
Gass t 4.-:'- 

Book .Cz2, 



:!i! 



i i 



/ ? 



/ 

THE REPUBLIC 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 

ITS DUTIES TO ITSELF, SYS'- 



ITS RESPONSIBLE RELATIONS TO OTHER COUNTRIES. 



EMBRACING ALSO A 



REVIEW OE THE LATE WAR 



BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO 



ITS CAUSES AND RESULTS; 



AND OF THOSE 



MEASURES OF GOVERNMENT WHICH HAVE CHARACTERIZED THE 



DEMOCRACY OF 'THE UNION. 



NEW YORK: 
D. APPLETON AND CO., 200 BROADWAY. 

PHILADELPHIA: 

GEO. S. APPLETON, 164 CHESNUT ST. 

1848. 



^^o' 

r.^^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, m the year 1848, by 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for 



the Southern District of New York. 



STEREOTYPED AT THE 
BOSTON TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY. 



TO THE 

^0n. 3atne0 J8ucl)anaii, 

OF PENNSYLVANIA: 

n^ea,6 la^ienld a?id exien^tve aUa{^?vm,enld ; o/ Aid 
deivccCii ad a dlcd€4?7KZ7i ; o/ Acd eneiaced a7id 
cnle^iUu a4 a cUl^e7i, and o/ ntd ineiilt^^ia^le 
atia/tlced ad a nia-n, Intd t^&tu^ne cd cndciwedj 
rri^i' condulezalwnd o/ ^ne 

9L §(a.tPi^u 



PREFACE. 



In preparing this volume for the press, the author 
has been encouraged by others in the belief that his 
humble labors might prove useful to his fellow-citi- 
zens, in leading them to contemplate the institutions 
of their country as sacred trusts, to be honored by 
duty, and protected by patriotism. It has been his 
aim to invest citizenship with those traits of character 
which give dignity to man, and to illustrate those 
great and eternal truths which give growth, power, 
and glory to nations. He has endeavored to define 
man, in his relations to external objects and to Deity, 
as a being of accountability and improvement ; and 
nations, as the mighty aggregates of the conven- 
tional powers of humanity, which are combined, 
shaped, and directed by the hand of that Providence 
vhich marks its way only in harmony with the 
aniversal principles of truth and of progress. How 
far he has succeeded in his design he leaves for others 
'O judge. He claims no favor but the admission of 
(lis sincerity, and no merit but in the purity of his 
notives. 



VI PREFACE. 

Having designed an extended history of the late 
war between the United States and Mexico, and 
being engaged in collecting materials in view of its 
execution, the author was induced, by the superior 
judgment of others, to give form to the present 
volume, briefly treating of important subjects within 
a compass that should be available to the great mass 
of the people. The suggestion was a recent one, 
and the work has been prepared with a rapidity, 
which, though prudence might not approve, necessity 
made requisite and imperative. 

The author makes his grateful acknowledgments 
to the Hon. Robert J. Walker, to the Hon. R. H. 
Gillet, and to other distinguished gentlemen, for 
their aid, counsel, and encouragement in the prose- 
cution of the humble undertaking. If he has accom- 
plished any good purpose, it is but just that the 
public should know the source of its indebtedness. 

October, 1848. 



CONTENTS. 



Pa?e 

Dedication, iii 

Fkeface, V 

Introductory, 1 

Formation of nations, 1 

Christian nations, 4 

Population of the earth, 4 

Growth of nations, force of example, 5 

RESrONSIBLE DUTIES AND RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 7 

The pioneer, 7 

Columbus and the Puritans, great pioneers of the fifteenth and 

seventeenth centuries, 8 

The Puritans and the Indians, 10 

Civilization — w^hat, 13 

llcsponsibility involves a knowledge of the conditions of growth, 15 

American colonies — their different forms of government, 16 

Organization of a national government,. 19 

Constitution of the United States, 21 

The indissoluble nature of the Union, 23 

The Constitution of United States, ...24 

Our government the rule of the people, 26 

The destiny of our nation, 28 

Review of the late war with Mexico, 30 

What is the nature of war ? 31 

View of Christian nations of war, 31, 39 

What we may learn from analogy, 33 

The cause of peace, 37 

The causes of the war,. 43 

Cause and effect, 43 

Ancient Mexico, ' 45 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Page 
Modern Mexico, 47 

Iturbide, character of — "Plan of Iguala," 49 

Mr. Webster's opinion of Mexico — note, 50 

President Madison's view of the war with Great Britain in 1812, 53 

John Quincy Adams's opinion of the causes of the Chinese war, 54 

Independence and annexation of Texas — annexation no cause of war,. .55 

Letter of Hon. R. J. Walker to the people of Kentucky, 1844, 58 

Assumed position and national relations of Mexico, 60 

Views of Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, R. Johnson, 60, 61,62 

March to the Rio Grande, no cause, 63 

Comparative view of the acts of the two governments, 64 

Oregon question — England, France, Mexico, Texas, and United 

States, Qo 

Relations between the United States and Texas, 65 

Assurance of the United States of protection to Texas, 67 

Orders of United States — for protection of Texas — to army and navy,. 67 

The Rio Grande to be occupied by our troops,, 68 

United States squadron ordered to cooperate in the defence of Texas,. ..69 

Terms of annexation accepted by government and people of Texas, 70 

General Taylor advised of annexation, 71 

The choice of the Texans, 71 

Free action of the Texans — annexation a bloodless achievement, 72 

Foreign interference — prompt action necessary, 73 

Positions of United States and Mexico, after annexation, 74 

Dispositions of Mexico, as manifested towards United States,.. 76 

Chagrin of Mexico — her mode of warfare, 78 

Addresses of Arista and Paredes to Mexican army, 79 

Communication across the frontier forbidden by Mexicans, 81 

Hostility of the Mexicans notorious, 81 

Vote of Congress for annexation, 81 

United States army required to retire beyond the Nueces, 82 

Prevailing spirit of United States towards Mexico, 82 

Pledge of amity of the United States government, 83 

Acts of hostility forbidden by the United States government, 83 

Order for defence — not invasion, 83 

Order to spare Mexican establishments, 84 

Order to avoid aggression — to protect Texas, 84 " 

Assurance of General Taylor that friendly relations should not be 

interrupted, 85 

Government of United States proposes to negotiate — appointment 

of Mr. Slidell, 85 

Proposal of the United States government, to restore friendly rela- 
tions, to Mr. Black, 87 

How the proposition was received — apprehensions of Mexican gov- 
ernment, 88 



CONTENTS. IX 

Page 

Mexico assents to the proposition to negotiate, 89 

"Withdrawal of the naval forces of United States from before Vera 
Cruz, 90 

Singular and unexpected reception of Mr. Slidell, 91 

Embarrassing position of United States minister — Mexican diplomacy,.. 92 

Mexico refuses to fulfil its engagements, 96 

Folly of Mexico — prudence and patience advised by United States 

government, 97 

Honorable effort and perseverance still advised by United States 

government, » 98 

Revolution in Mexico — Paredes in power, 100 

United States and Great Britain — duplicity of the Mexican govern- 
ment, 100 

Weakness of Paredes — approval of General Taylor's advance, 101 

Solicitations for negotiation renewed by Mr. Slidell, 101 

Mr. Slidell instructed still to persevere, 103 

United States minister again refused by Mexico, 104 

Letters of Mr. Castillo y Lanzas, 105 

Mexican government without excuse or defence, 106 

The rejected mission of peace, 106 

Was the United States government just to Mexico on the subject of 

boundary, 112 

How is Texas bounded ? 113 

Has Texas a just claim to make the Rio Grande her boundary, 116 

Recognition of new governments — principles involved, 118 

Treaty of Santa Anna, 118 

Importance and sacredness of treaties, » 120 

Treaty of Santa Anna on the side of humanity, 121 

Position of the United States in relation to boundary, 121 

Precautionary acts of the United States goverrment, 122 

Occupation on the Rio Grande advised by Mr. Donelson,. 123 

Troops requested for the protection of Texas, 123 

Solicitude of Texas in regard to means of defence, 123 

Defence of Texas ordered by the government of the United States,.... 124 

Posts suggested on the Rio Grande by Mr. Donelson, 124 

Rio Grande recognized by United States as the boundary of Texas,. .. .124 

Rio Grande question anticipated, 125 

Posts on the Rio Grande advised by Texas, 125 

Prudential suggestions in regard to the use of force, 126 

If peace measures fail, war justifiable, 126 

Entire protection to Texas enforced by the United States government,. 126 

Mexicans to be driven beyond the Rio Grande in case of invasion, 127 

Frontier posts to be established by General Taylor aided by Texas,... .127 
Vigilance of General Taylor in protecting boundary to Rio Grande,.... 127 
Crossing Rio Grande by Mexicans — commencement of hostilities, ....127 
Solicitude of the United States government that Texas should be 
protected to the Rio Grande, 128 



X CONTENTS. 

Page 

No boundary thought of by General Taylor but the Rio Grande, 128 

Letter of advice of General Taylor to advance to the Rio Grande, 129 

Discretionary power given to General Taylor, 131 

General Taylor ordered to advance to the Rio Grande, 132 

Jpinion of General Taylor approving the order, 132 

Opinion of Mr. Slidell approving the order, 133 

General Taylor anticipates no resistance, 133 

Rio Grande not to be crossed by United States troops unless attacked,.. 133 

Decided hostility on the part of the Mexicans, 134 

Occupation of left bank of Rio Grande, 134 

Hostile attitude of the Mexicans — battery erected by General Taylor,. 135 

General Taylor summoned by Ampudia to withdraw, 136 

Commencement of hostilities by Mexico, 136 

Views of General Taylor in respect to first acts of hostility, 137 

Prosecution of the war — military power, 139 

Military power of the United States, 141 

Achievements of the army — government of the United States — 

General Cass quoted, 144 

Return of Santa Anna, 148 

Positions of opponents to the war considered, 148 

The soldier's position — the fallen soldier, 148 

Let the soldier's grave be honored, 149 

JirSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS, 150 

Justice, what it is to nations, 150 

Duties of nations — elements of national existence, 150 

Escape of Mexico from a war in 1837, 155 

Mexico saved by the war — gain, what, to the United States, 162 

The war one of justice and humanity, 164 

Party views and party principles, 166 

Parties either permanent or transient, 167 

The two great parties in this country, 169 

Their features, history of, 169 

Constitutional treasury — the currency, 175 

Whig party — Webster, Clay — tiote, 171 

Success of the constitutional treasury, its importance, 180 

Free trade — tariff of 1846, 181 

Principles of free trade — industry — national prosperity, 182 

Indebtedness of the country to the secretary of the treasury, Hon. 
R.J.Walker, 187 



CONTENTS. Xl 



APPENDIX. 

Page 

Declaration of rights, 189 

The press, railroad, and telegraph, 192 

Extract from a speech of Hon. H. V. Johnson,... . , 193 

Extract from a speech of Hon. Mr. Hunter, 194 

Extract from a speech of Hon. R. Johnson, 195 

"Plan of Iguala," 195 

Mexican aggressions, 197 

Treaty between Texas and Santa Anna, 218 

Extract from Hon. R. J. Walker's letter (of 1844), 221 

Texas once a part of the Union, 221 

Reports of Adams and Clay, 221 

Resolutions of Congress annexing Texas, 226 

Acts of Texas — annexation, 228 

Texas, England, and France, .231 

Mexican circulars, 236 

Mr. Slidell's letter of credence, 238 

Letter of Mr. Peiia y PeSa, 239 

Mr. Slidellto Mr. Peiia y Pena, 240 

Mr. Pena y Peiia to the council, 252 

Mr. Black to Mr. Slidell, 255 

Extract from President Polk's message — boundary of Texas, 258 

Proclamation of General "Woll, 260 

Extract from General Rusk's speech, 261 

Acts of Texas — defining boundary, 267 

Minutes of an interview between General Worth and General Vega,. . .269 

Correspondence between Generals Taylor and Ampudia, 274 

Extract from Mr. Buchanan's letter on the prosecution of the war,.... 279 

Number of troops in the war, losses, deaths, &c. , 281 

John Quincy Adams and the Chinese war, 285 

Treaty of peace 286 

Extract from President Polk's message in regard to New Mexico and 

Upper California, 302 

Extract from the letter of acceptance of General Cass, 303 

Baltimore Convention, 305 

A statement of the receipts of the United States from the 4th March, 

1789, to 30th June, 1844, 310 

A statement of expenditures of the United States from the 4th March, 

1789, to 30th June, 1844, 314 

Defalcations of the United States treasury, from 1789 to 1837, 318 

Receipts in specie, from 1st January, 1847, to 30th June, 1848 319 

Statement of the amount of coinage at the United States mint and 

branches, from 1st January, 1847, to 30th June, 1848, 319 



M 



Xll 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
Extract from an address by Judge Woodbury, on the remedies for 

certain defects in American education, 319 

Comparative view of the receipts into the treasury from customs 

under the tariffs of 1842 and 1846 322 



INTRODUCTORY. 



FORMATION OF NATIONS. 

A CIVILIZED nation is a momentous combination of parts, 
of countless powers and influences that encircle the globe, 
and extend from the equator to the poles. It is an individual 
being, and yet it is the imbodiment of millions of the human 
race. Its boundaries are marked upon the earth, its resources 
upon the page, but its myriads of eyes look with an illim- 
ited vision into the unmeasured regions of space and of time. 
It is single in its organization, and yet its capacity is as multi- 
form as the subjects and objects of the universe, — extending 
out from itself active causes of progress to the world, and 
standing as its own conservator. It is circumscribed in its 
territory, but it is infinite in its relations and influences. Its 
interests are as diversified as the blessings of creation, embra- 
cing all that is within the pebble and the mountain, the mite 
and the man. 

The divine faculties of the soul, in their highest conceptions 
of truth, beauty, and wisdom, make up its existence, and 
constitute the elements of its growth. The natural world in 
its grandeur and life-yielding fruits ; the living creatures of 
the earth, air, and water ; man, whether as an individual, or as 
a member of a family, a neighborhood, or state ; whether as 
a citizen or a ruler ; as an exponent of natural or conventional 
law, — all are made to subserve the nation, and through the 
nation the world, and through the world its Maker. 

It is a beautiful truth that all may see who have surveyed 
"the unbounded scheme of things," 



2 FOKMATION OF NATIONS. 

that every existence, however great or small, that comes from 
creative wisdom, is perfect in itself, and made for admirable 
ends. Nothing is left to accident. All is made for progress. 

If we look to the beginning of things, our reason leads to 
the belief " in the gradual development of the powers of 
nature, and in the adaptation of living beings to the progress 
of that development." 

The earth, from a mass of inert matter, has become what 
we behold it. Endowed with inherent power, vegetation soon 
covered its surface with herbs, and fruits, and flowers ; beauti- 
fying its valleys, and clothing its mountains with stately trees 
and fragrant shrubs. The rocks with rude features walled up 
the fearful precipices, and lined the subterraneous caverns. 
The elements were soon iTiled in order, surrounding and filling 
it with their mysterious life and agency. The springs and 
rivers were opened ; the waters of the mighty deep were 
placed, and the tides were made to ebb and flow ; invisible air 
moved the rising vapor and the yielding tree ; and heat 
warmed all into growth and being. Then came the 



powerful king of day, 



Rejoicing- in the east." 

And in its absence, the modest moon lighted up the earth with 
its milder rays, while unnumbered stars shone from the vaulted 
sky, and filled all space with gems of light. Seasons were 
measured, and time Avas marked by days and nights. 

Thus was the earth prepared for man, and " for every living 
creature after his kind." It is not within our province, in this 
connection, to note the successive growths of ages of the 
natural world, or to trace the physical and mental causes which 
produced them. It is a study, however, fraught with beauty 
and instruction, an 

" Effusive source of evidence and truth.." 

So far as analogical examples will aid us in understanding 
man in his relations of destiny and duty, we shall avail our- 
selves of this source of truth, speaking as it does the language 
of divinity. 



FORMATION OF NATIONS. 3 

In discussing the important topics wliich we have chosen 
for consideration, it is our purpose to observe those rules of 
evidence which have been sanctioned by science. Our 
objects are those of truth and duty, and if we err, the reader 
must measure to us that favor which he would ask for himself, 
ascribing whatever may seem amiss to that weakness which is 
common to us all. 

It has been a source of regret in all ages of inquiiy, that no 
records of the early condition of man were made, or, if made, 
preserved. It is an obvious truth, that reconciles us to this 
want, that prescience was not given to man in his ignorance, 
and that we have no just reason to look for a record of knowl- 
edge from those who did not recognize its power, or foresee 
its uses. 

It is quite true, as is stated by the learned Dr. Tytler, that 
" all accounts of the early history of single nations trace them 
back to a state of rudeness and barbarism, which argues a new 
and infant establishment ; and we must conclude that to be 
true with respect to the whole, which we find to be true with 
respect to all its parts. But to delineate the characters of this 
early state of society, to trace distinctly the steps by which 
population extended over the whole surface of the habitable 
globe ; the separation of mankind into tribes and nations ; the 
causes which led to the formation of the first kingdoms ; and 
the precise times when they were formed — are matters of in- 
quiry for which neither sacred nor profane history affords us 
that amplitude of information which is necessary for giving 
clear and positive ideas. But while we travel through those 
remote periods of the history of an infant world, making the 
best of those lights we can procure, we have the comfort of 
thinking that, in proportion as man advances from barbarism 
to civilization, in proportion as history becomes useful or in- 
structive, its certainty increases, and its materials become more 
authentic and more abundant.'" 

Society, as originally formed, was made up of families, each 
having its parental head. As man was fitted to associate with 



4 FORMATION OF NATIONS. 

his kind, the next development was the social circle — friend 
with friend, and neighbor with neighbor. Increase of numbers 
led to diversity of interests, and tribes were formed, each as- 
senting to conventional rules, and yielding certain rights to all, 
that they were unwilling to yield to each other. As it was 
with individual and family interests, there soon arose the greater 
interests of the separate tribes, and the nation was the result, 
— each tribe surrendering to all the tribes what none would 
yield to its neighbor. Every change opened to new wants 
and to new conditions. The mind naturally looked forward to 
provide for the advancement of society to its ultimate forma- 
tion. Its progress was onward and upward. Nations were 
multiplied upon nations, — rising or falling in their might or 
greatness, in the same degree that they were true or false to 
their trusts. 

At the present period, a large portion of the earth is con- 
trolled by the conventional powers of nations ; and yet, of a 
population of a thousand millions, the Christians can claim 
but about one fifth of that inconceivable number.* 

Nations have advanced in growth as independent existences, 
each having its own laws and institutions, according to its dis- 
tinctive power and genius. They have become the conserva- 
tors of commerce, science, and religion, throughout the world, 
and the subject of international l,aw, though still in its infancy, 
is in rapid process of advancement. The individual is lost in 
the races, and the races make up the great question of man's 
destiny — universal humanity. 

It has become the true province of science to investigate not 



* The population of the earth, has been recently stated thus : 



Asia, .... 
Europe, . 
Africa, • . . 
America, . 
Oceanica, 



.585,000,000^ 

,235,000,000 I 

110,000,000 ! 

50,000,000 

20,000,000 



I 

Total, 1,000,000,000 J 



Of 

which 

are 



r Heathen, 600,000,000 

Mahometans, 140,000,000 

Jews, 10,000,000 

Romish Church, ..130,000,000 
Greek Church,.... 55,000,000 
Protestant Denomi- 
nations, 65,000,000 



FORMATION OF NATIONS. 5 

only the laws of inanimate matter, of the unmeasured regions 
of space, but of the immortal soul itself, in the recesses of its 
intellectual, moral, and religious nature. Man is studied as 
man, as father, husband, brother, friend, citizen, magistrate, 
legislator, and soldier. He is viewed as an element of the 
town, state, nation, world, and universe. Unlimited and un- 
wearied, the spirit of inquiry seeks to know the rights of 
men in masses, as parts of a nation ; and the rights of nations, 
as parts of the world ; and our relations to the world, as the 
children of God.* 

In all ages, the influence of example has been acknowledged 
and inculcated. It is an incitement to sincerity, an encourage- 
ment to duty. The only legacy which the rude savage leaves 
to his children, or to his tribe, is a recital of his deeds, that 
they may be followed as the highest examples of good of 
which their nature is capable. The good man of the civilized 
world, in his parting blessing to those whom he loves best, 
speaks of examples of goodness as more precious to the form- 
ing man, than all the visible treasures of the earth. It is so 
with nations. The examples of nations influence nations, and 
each is held responsible, not only to its own subjects or citizens, 
but to the world, and to those eternal laws of right, which, in 
the process of moral change, will give equal freedom to the 
prince and to the slave. 

Having made these remarks as introductory to the subjects 
treated of in the following pages, it is now our purpose to 
speak briefly of our own countiy, of the Republic of the United 



* "Every generous emotion," says an interesting writer, "is in its 
nature elastic, and naturally labors to widen the sphere of its influ- 
ence : the first impulse 

' serves the virtuous mind to wake. 

As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake ; 
The centre moved, a circle straight succeeds ; 
Another still, and still another spreads ; 
Friend, parent, neighbor, first it will embrace, 
His country next, and next all human race.' " 

Taylor's Natural History of Society. 

. 1* 



b FORMATION OF NATIONS. 

States of America ; of its duties to itself, and its responsible 
relations to other countries. 

It is not the design of the author, however, to illustrate this 
great subject by a statement of abstract propositions, for this is 
forbidden by his limits ; but rather to lead the reader into that 
atmosphere of thought which shall best prepare him to follow us 
in the investigation of those realities, those actual conditions 
of our country, as a matter of duty to ourselves, and to the 
nation and age in which we live. 



I 



THE RESPONSIBLE DUTIES AND RELATIONS 
OF THE UNITED STATES. 



THE PIONEEE. 

We honor the pioneer ! We reverence him as the early agent 
of Providence in all those great changes of life which constitute 
the improvement of the world. We speak of the pioneer in 
an enlarged sense, — as the discoverer of new regions, new 
agents, new laws, new beauties, and new combinations in the 
natural world, as well as new truths in the moral world. He 
seems to be endowed with an instinct superior to reason, a gift 
from his Maker to extend the limits of knowledge, and the 
great purposes of divine beneficence. 

We find him in the wilderness, self-exiled from the refine- 
ments of civilization, inviting labor, enduring hardships, incur- 
ring dangers, — a willing neighbor to the savage. We find 
him upon the ocean, in the frail constructed bark, without 
instructions from man, ploughing the trackless deep, with no 
chart of his destined shores but that of faith. We find him in 
the icy regions of the poles, though aided by the light of sci- 
ence, but still the same unyielding and self-sacrificing spirit, 
reaching forward to burst the boundaries of his view. We 
find him in the laboratoiy and in the workshop, in the halls of 
legislation and in the observatory. We find him in the caverns 
of the earth, in the depths of the sea, in the vaults of the an- 
cients, in the crater of the volcano, on the summit of the high- 
est mountain, and borne by the chariot of science above and 



8 COLUMBUS AND THE PURITANS. 

beyond the tempests of the sky. We find him, too, in the 
missions of the gospel to distant lands ; we find him struggling 
in the cause of freedom ; earnest and bold in all reforms, and 
a ministering angel of sympathy in the cause of suffering 
humanity. 



COLUMBUS AND THE PURITANS, THE GREAT PIONEERS 
OF THE FIFTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES. 

It was an extraordinary period in the histoiy of the world, 
when the western voyages of Columbus were projected, and 
which led to the discovery of the American continent.* His 
aim was dignity, rank, and wealth, and these were sought with 
the noblest motives. The vast gains that he anticipated from 
his discoveries, he intended to appropriate to princely purposes — 
to institutions for the relief of the poor of his native city, to the 
foundation of churches, and, above all, to crusades for the re- 
covery of the holy sepulchre.t Endowed with talents of a high 
order, with a poetical temperament, a fervent piety, and, with- 
al, a bigot's zeal, he was eminently fitted for such a mission. 

* An unparalleled impulse was given, about this period, to tlie prog- 
ress of European civilization, by the simultaneous invention, or at 
least introduction from the East, of the mariner's compass, gunpow- 
der and artillery, an improved system of arithmetic, and the art of 
printing. Combined with these were a renewed study of the Roman 
law, the cultivation of Greek literature, the restoration of the fine 
arts, and the opening of new paths of industry and commercial enter- 
prise. — See Taylor s Ahttural Histo.ry of Society. 

The state of geographical knowledge at the period when the conti- 
nent of America was discovered, may be inferred from the treaty of 
Tordesillas, made June 7, 1494, in which were determined " the prin- 
ciples on which the vast extent of unappropriated empire, in the east- 
ern and western hemispheres, was ultimately divided between two 
petty states of Europe." — See Pt^scott's Ferdmand mid Imbella, Vol. 
II. p. 181. 

t Irving's Columbus. 



COLUMBUS AND THE PURITANS. 9 

Ali was done in the name of the Holy Trinity, and through 
his sovereigns, he owned no master but his God. 

Such was the character of Columbus. He discovered the 
continent of America, but it was left to other pioneers to people 
and to subdue it. His was the zeal of the Holy Catholic 
church, theirs was the zeal of reform. He carried the ban- 
ner of St. Peter, they were the followers of Martin Luther. 
They were all inquirers after truth, but the declarations of the 
pope, and the protest of the sons of Britain, were alike the 
sources of zeal, faith, and sacrifice — all were prepared for 
martyrdom, each for his own form of faith. Columbus died 
ignorant of the extent of his own discovery,* and the Puritans 
died without a knowledge of the freedom which they had se- 
cured for their children and the world. 

The Puritans — filled with a self-respect that knew no laws 
but those of duty, moved by a sense of accountability that ac- 
knowledged no ruler but God — preferred the foreign wilder- 
ness with the rights of conscience, with unrestrained devotion, 
to the firesides of home made bitter by oppression. They 
were the pioneers of the moral world ; they were the defend- 
ers of the mind's integrity, of the soul's best good, of man's 
high destiny. t We have no occasion to refer the reader to 
the well-known history of the Puritans ; it would be as useless 
as an artist's chart to find the noonday sun in a cloudless sky. 
We point him to our countiy as it is, with the proud conviction 
that all who read our pages have knowledge of what it was. 

* He supposed Ilispaniola to be the ancient Ophir, which had been 
visited by the ships of King Solomon, and that Cuba and Terra Firma 
were but remote parts of Asia. 

t It is well remarked by an intelligent author, (De Tocqueville,) 
that "the emigrants who fixed themselves on the shores of Ameri- 
ca, in the beginning of the 17th century, severed the democratic prin- 
ciple from all the principles which repressed it in the old communi- 
ties of Europe, and transplanted it unalloyed to the New "World. It 
has there been allowed to spread in perfect freedom, and to put forth 
its consequences in the laws, by influencing the manners of the 
country." 



10 THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 

As colonists of Great Britain, our fathers were permitted to 
enjoy a new world in its freedom and freshness. They had 
the aid of the wisdom of the parent country, without its con- 
comitant evils and follies ; the health and energies of its ma- 
turity without the infirmities of age. Separated by a vast 
ocean, and thrown upon their own resources, they acquired 
habits and views peculiar to themselves. The cold climate 
and rock-bound soil of New England were circumstances 
favorable to physical strength and industiy. The wily Indian 
soon taught them the necessity of self-protection, and their dan- 
gers and hardships gave them those stern and hardy virtues 
which still bless their children's children. 

It has often been the theme of the orator and poet, to speak 
of the great injustice done by the Puritans to the sons of the 
forest ; to assert that the Indian was the lawful possessor of 
the soil, and to lament that our fathers were guilty of stupen- 
dous wrong to a simple-hearted and ignorant race, by assuming 
the control of the land and gradually displacing the native from 
the home of his fathers. 

Without pausing here to speak particularly of the principles 
of the subject, the remark may be made, that these views, 
probably, have been expressed without that examination which 
is always and imperatively required in matters involving charges 
of such magnitude. It is maintained by persons eminent for 
their learning and integrity, that the records bear evidence that 
the Puritans were scrupulously honest in their transactions with 
the Indians. That there were no exceptions, we are not pre- 
pared to say, for, in truth, such an assertion cannot properly 
be made of any people. But it is our humble opinion, based 
upon some examination of the subject, and yet more confident- 
ly relying upon the views of others than our own, — that the 
Puritans were true to their standard of integrity, which involved 
the interests of two and widely different races. The Indian 
was ferocious, sensual, and superstitious. Knowledge confound- 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 11 

ed him, and the conventional distinctions of society were noth- 
ing to him but chaos. He could see no objects of life above 
the existence of the body ; no property, but in the implements 
of destruction, or in the extent of his hunting-grounds. He 
coveted nothing so much as the strange novelties of the white 
man, and when he consented to sell a small lot of land, it was 
doubtless his belief that he had made a gain without decreasing 
his privileges, and that the loss, if any, was on the part of those 
who gave away their wonders without an equivalent. That the 
standard of knowledge and duty of the Puritans was a very 
diiferent one, all will admit ; but it was their necessity that led 
them to the adoption of particular modes of deahng adapted to 
the condition, views, and capacities of the barbarian. Besides, 
they could have had no definitive belief in what their own lot was 
to be in this new land. Religious freedom was paramount to 
all other considerations. Physical subsistence was admitted to 
be necessary, even indispensable ; and it was important, too, 
that conventional laws should be observed in regard to proper- 
ty ; but, as they viewed this world of but little consequence, 
the mere temporary dwelling-place of the soul, a place of pro- 
bation to fit them for another existence, they doubtless felt that 
their relation to the savage, in the providence of God, was one 
of a spiritual nature, rather than one of temporal interests, — 
and, in making bargains with the natives, they were influenced 
by none of those selfish motives which are so often manifested 
and condemned in civilized countries. According to our pres- 
ent standard of knowledge, the Puritans were ignorant and big- 
oted. This cannot be said of them as true in their own times. 
The predominating element in their character, the spirit of re- 
ligious freedom^ was the same, whether it concerned the rights 
of the Catholic, or of the Protestant. It was not the mode of be- 
lief, it was not the standard of knowledge, but it was in this 
great principle, — that the individual had an inalienable right 
to worship his Maker according to the desires of his own soul, 
according to the convictions of his own mind, however pecu- 
liar, however different from established systems, his form 



12 THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 

of faith. This element of character, of actual freedom in 
any things is the life-spring of liberty. As the acorn has within 
its narrow compass the elemental growth of ages, so this prin- 
ciple of freedom in the mind, at first applied to one subject, 
will in coming time be applied to all. As knowledge is ad- 
vanced, its sphere of action will be enlarged, until freedom 
gladdens eveiy people, and erects its monuments in every 
clime. 

It is a proposition but few will deny, that the features and 
external aspects of a countiy have an influence in the 
formation of the character of its people. We would not lead 
the reader, by this remark, to adopt the common error of 
blending cause and effect together by attributing an absolute 
agency to external things, without regard to the character of 
the mind standing in relation to them ; but rather to speak of 
that mutual relation existing between mind and matter which 
is to be appreciated only as it is found to be marked by the 
energies of the soul.* This continent was long in the posses- 

* Locke, in speaking of the fitness of man for knowledge and im- 
provement, makes use of the following remarkable passage : — 

" Of what consequence the discovery of one natural body, and its 
properties, may be to human life, the whole great continent of 
America is a convincing instance ; whose ignorance in useful arts, 
and want of the greatest part of the conveniences of life, in a country 
that abounded with all sorts of natural plenty, I think may be 
attributed to their ignorance of what was to be found in a very ordi- 
nary despicable stone, — I mean the mineral of iron. And whatever 
we think of our parts or improvements in this part of the world, 
where knowledge and plenty seem to vie with each other, yet, to 
any one who will seriously reflect on it, I suppose it will appear past 
doubt, that were the use of iron lost among us, we should in a few 
ages be unavoidably reduced to the wants and ignorance of the 
ancient savage Americans, whose natiu'al endowments come no way 
short of those of the most flourishing and polite nations." 

"We do not quote this passage with a view to refute it, but to show 
the opinion of a grave philosopher, who, having written one of the 
ablest works extant on the nature of the mind, and having asserted 
its immateriality and immortality, should so far forget himseK as to 



THE PURITANS AND THE INDIANS. 13 

sion of the barbarian ; and yet his feeble powers of apprehen- 
sion were not equal to comprehending the beauty and magnifi- 
cence of its scenery, much less to manifest traits of character 
as the result of any contemplation of its features. 

In considering the rights and duties of nations, it becomes 
the spirit of inquiry, that while a just and uncompromising 
regard should be observed in reference to humanity on the one 
hand, we should, on the other, elevate our views in the endeavor 
to comprehend the relations existing between man and exter- 
nal objects, — in reverence to Him who looks upon all things 
as parts of a great whole, and destined to infinite progression 
as an integrant of the system of the universe itself. We often 
speak of 

CIVILIZATION, 

of what it is, of its laws, of its progress, of its blessings, of 
its refinements. Are we sure that we have just conceptions 
of the subject ? of what we mean ? of the duties which it 
involves ? of the truths encompassed by our language, and of 
the responsibility of our professions in connection with the 
subject ? We fear not. We will not arrogate to ourselves an 

make its best energies and refinement dependent on the presence and 
use of iron ore ! Since this ore was made kno^^^a to the savage, 
seven generations have passed away ; and what the condition of the 
savage now is need not be stated. Locke had studied the results of 
the mental capacities, rather than the capacities themselves, in rela- 
tion to external objects. The natural instrument of the mind was 
overlooked, and he sought the means of its manifestation in the rifle, 
chisel, and spade, forgetting that the mind invented and manufac- 
tured them, and therefore must have preceded them all. 

Mr. Thompson, in his interesting work on Mexico, loses sight of 
this distinction. He says, "They have no fireplaces in Mexico, and 
I think this circumstance has a great influence on their character." 
The fireplace is one of the necessities of climate, and its connection 
with character is one of the results of social co?idition, but not the 
cause of it. It may be that this able writer simply intended to 
lament the want of the necessity, and even this must be regarded as 
an incidental influence. 
2 



14 CIVILIZATION. 

ability to answer these questions above that, which, in all 
humility, we are willing to believe is possessed by our fellow- 
men ; but we may be permitted to express an earnest hope 
that the reader will pursue with us the inquiry with an honest 
heart and careful mind. 

Civilization, in that enlarged sense in which it is used when 
applied to nations, is a comprehensive term, which embraces 
those relations, and which cannot be enumerated, that exist 
between man and all external things. Man is a sentient being, 
placed in the midst of objects to be studied and to be known. 
He stands in relation to them all as ruler, and they to him as 
subjects. He stands in relation even to himself, and the oracle 
of Delphi, " K710W thyself^'''' was indeed the first step in knowl- 
edge worthy to be pointed out as of divine origin. The 
degrees of civilization correspond with those of knowledge, 
comprehending its applications and uses. Its highest state 
would imply a knowledge of our physical system, of its parts, 
of its functions, of the conditions of health, the causes of dis- 
ease, the principles of true temperance, and the penalties of 
violation and abuse. It implies a knowledge of mind, of the 
nature of its faculties, sentiments, and propensities. It em- 
braces all that can be comprehended by the intellect, and all that 
can be realized by the soul. It extends from the circle of the 
individual to that of the nation, and of the world, comprising 
all duties due to ourselves, to our country, to the world, and to 
God. The sphere of man is infinite, embracing all that is 
small, and all that is great ; all that is good, and all that is 
beautiful ; — his destiny is infinite progression. 

The natural world is filled with causes which man is fitted 
to develop and to know. The secret springs of vegetation ; 
the healthful condition of vegetable life ; the uses of things 
that grow, and of inanimate substances ; the objects of beauty, 
and enjoyments of sense ; the numberless purposes of animal 
life ; the laws of matter, and the elements of mechanical 
power ; in fine, whatever exists upon, within, around, above, 
and beyond the globe, and the globe itself, — are subjects 



KNOWLEDGE OF GROWTH. 15 

enjoined upon man for him to master, to control without abuse, 
and to advance in the great scale of perfection. 

With these views, can we adopt the belief that the red man 
was the true inheritor of this continent ? that such a mag- 
nificent country, with its vast capabilities, should be destined 
to the mere objects of animal life ? that it was to be the 
destiny of the savage to grovel v/ith the beasts ; to study de- 
struction instead of life and growth ; to roam over the land 
without a knowledge of its beauties, or of its latent treasures ? 
Was this earth clothed in matchless beauty, and endowed with 
rich treasures adapted to humanity, forever to revolve in its 
orbit without development ? Was it created without design, 
without destiny ? To argue such questions would be subject- 
ing reason to the trial of reason, judgment to the rule of doubt, 
and it would imply a total want of that awe and reverence which 
should ever characterize the spirit of our inquiries when we 
study the works of Infinite Wisdom. 

This course of thought leads us next to notice the fact 
that our 

RESPONSIBILITY INVOLVES A KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONDITIONS 
OF GROWTH. 

Just conceptions of individual or national responsibility in- 
volve a knowledge of the conditions of moral and physical 
growth. Having glanced at the motives and circumstances 
which led to the discovery and settlement of this continent, it 
remains for us briefly to consider the origin, changes, and 
present character of the government, and of those sources of 
power with which we have been so abundantly blessed. The 
motives which actuated the first emigrants were those of enter- 
prise, personal ambition, religious zeal, and the true spirit of 
freedom, really embracing those primary elements necessary 
to the formation of a new and energetic national character. 

Even a rapid view of these elements will enable us to judge 
how favorable they were to results of strength and prosperity. 
The gradual development of interests ; of new wants ; of new 



16 AMERICAN COLONIES AND FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

sources of comfort, profit, and power ; of difficulties and dan- 
gers, were incidental causes favorable to habits of industiy, 
virtue, and independence. 

Let us review, for a moment, the early formation of the 

AMERICAN COLONIES AND THEIR DIFFERENT FORMS OF GOV- 
ERNMENT. 

Although the colonies were subjected to the sovereignty of 
Great Britain, yet most of the early influences, privileges, 
restraints, and institutions established around them, were of 
their own choice and making. While they were willing to 
avail themselves of whatever advantages the mother country 
could extend to them, they did not hesitate to reject what their 
judgment could not approve when proposed for their adoption ; 
and their distance from, all civilized nations was a circumstance 
favoring exemption from home rule, and stimulating that free 
exercise of all the faculties of the mind in the discussion of 
their rights which soon began to give them new traits of char- 
acter, and which have been continued to their descendants. 

Diversity of privileges, of interests, and of experience, were 
secured to them in the different forms in which Great Britain 
extended her laws and protection to the different colonies. 
The form of each became the study of all the others, and the 
results of each were separate, exhibiting the true causes of 
success or of failure. 

The governments originally formed in the different colonies 
were of three kinds, viz. : the provincial^ the proprietary^ 
and the charter.* 

1. The provincial governments had no fixed constitution, 

* In noticing the different forms of the colonial governments, and 
the organization of the general government, we liave made free use 
of the able Avork of Judge Story on the Constitution of the United 
States. As we have slightly modified his phraseology in some pas- 
sages, to adapt the matter to our purpose, we have not given the 
usual marks of quotation. These brief passages, however, alluded to, 
are merely historical. 



AMERICAN COLONIES AND FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 17 

but derived all their authority from commissions, issued from 
time to time, by the crown. They were subject to the pleasure 
of the king. A governor and council were appointed, and 
these were invested with general executive powers, and were 
authorized to convene a general assembly of the representatives 
of the freeholders and planters of the province. The assembly 
was the lower, and the council was the upper house. The 
governor was invested with a veto power upon all their pro- 
ceedings, and had the power to prorogue and dissolve them. 
The legislature had power to make all local laws and ordinances 
not repugnant to the laws of England. Under this form of 
government. New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, North 
Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, were governed, as 
provinces, at the commencement of the American revolution ; 
and some of them had been so governed from an early period 
of their settlement. 

2. The proprietary governments were gi-ants by letters 
patent from the crown to one or more persons, as proprietary 
or proprietaries, conveying to them not only^the rights of the 
soil, but also the general powers of government within the 
territory so granted, in the nature of feudatory principalities, 
or dependent royalties ; possessing within their own domains 
nearly the same authority which the crown possessed in the 
provincial governments, subject, however, to the control of the 
king. The governor was appointed by the proprietary, or 
proprietaries, and the legislature was organized and convened 
according to his or their pleasure. The executive functions 
and prerogatives were exercised by him or them, either per- 
sonally or by the governor for the time being. At the time 
of the "revolution, only three governments existed in this form, 
namely, Maiyland, held by Lord Baltimore, as proprietary, 
and Pennsylvania and Delaware, held by William Penn, as 
proprietary. 

3. Charter govei^nments were political corporations, created 
by letters patent, which conferred on the grantees and their 
associates the soil within their territorial limits, and all the high 

2* 



18 AMERICAN COLONIES AND FORMS OF GOVERNMENT. 

powers of legislative government. The charters contained a 
fundamental constitution for the colony, distributing the powers 
of government into three great departments, legislative, exec- 
utive, and judicial ; providing for the mode in which these 
powers should be vested and exercised. The charter govern- 
ments existing at the time of the revolution, were Massachu- 
setts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. 

It is a remark of the late Judge Story, that, " notwithstanding 
these differences in their original and actual political organiza- 
tion, the colonies, at the time of the American revolution, in 
most respects, enjoyed the same general rights and privileges." 
Although we may not dissent from this general remark, still it 
must be admitted that these differences are sufficiently marked 
to be noticed as distinct and separate causes ; and though their 
effects may have been somewhat blended in a common experi- 
ence, we cannot but regard them as sources of different 
results, and, as such, leading in some degree to diversity of 
character. 

The provincial government was the absolute sovereignty 
of the crown, transferred, at pleasure, from an island to the 
continent, without any guaranty as to favor or permanency. 

The proprietary government gave an interest in the soil, 
but that interest was secured to individuals, and the relations 
between the people and the proprietaries were those of 
dependence. 

The charter government was a division of powers between 
two great parties, according to fixed conditions, each party 
having certain defined and reserved rights, the subordinate 
government being independent only under a constitution. 

It will be perceived that in these forms of government there 
are three distinct degrees of liberty ; and yet the scale is 
graduated to a common head, the British crown, and to which 
all acknowledo-ed their alle2;iance. 

" In all of these," says Judge Story, " express provision 
was made, that all subjects and their children, inhabiting in the 
colonies, should be deemed natural born subjects, and should 



ORGANIZATION OP A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 19 

enjoy all the privileges and immunities thereof. In all of 
them, the common law of England, as far as it was applicable 
to their situation, was made the basis of their jurisprudence." 
Not that the entire system was introduced into any one 
colony, but only such portions of it as each found adapted to 
its own wants, and were applicable to its own situation. Of 
this, each colony judged for itself. 

It is further remarked by the same author, that " although 
the colonies had a common origin, and common right, and 
owed a common allegiance, and the inhabitants of all of them 
were British subjects, they had no direct political connection 
with each other. Each colony was independent of the others, 
and there was no confederacy or alliance between them. 
They were excluded from all political connection with foreign 
nations, and they followed the fate and fortunes of the parent 
country in peace and war. Still the colonists were not wholly 
alien to each other. On the contrary, they were fellow-sub- 
jects, and, for many purposes, one people. Every colonist had 
a right to inhabit, if he pleased, in any other colony, to trade 
therewith, and to inherit and hold lands there." 

We now come to the first step towards the 

ORGANIZATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

When the British Parliament asserted the right to legislate 
over the colonies in all cases whatsoever, and made a system- 
atic effort to execute this right by acts of internal legislation 
and taxation, it was boldly resisted by them, and a contro- 
versy was commenced which terminated in their independ- 
ence. This new power was manifested in the Continental 
Congress of 1774, which adopted unanimously a declaration 
of the rights of the colonies.* These were disregarded by 
the British government, and the American revolution was the 
result. In the exigencies of the times, union of the colonies 
became a paramount measure, — indeed, it v/as an absolute 

* See Appendix A. 



20 ORGANIZATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

necessity — as a means of common defence. It was recom- 
mended to each colony to reorganize its government as that 
of a sovereign state, and to enact such new laws as the times 
seemed to require. 

This voluntary association of the states for purposes of mere 
protection was not designed to be permanent, and, although 
every measure was adopted which nations usually adopt in 
seasons of apprehended danger from a foreign enemy, still 
the removal of the occasion left each state to recede from or 
to continue in the alliance. Besides, it could but be seen how 
great would be the dangers of the separation of the confed- 
erated states into independent communities, acknowledging no 
common head, and acting upon no common system. Rival- 
ries, jealousies, real or imaginary wrongs, diversities of local 
interests and institutions, would soon sever the ties of a com- 
mon attachment, which bound them together, and bring on a 
state of hostile operations dangerous to their peace and sub- 
versive of their permanent interests.* 

One of their first objects, therefore, beyond that of their 
immediate safety, which engaged the attention of the Conti- 
nental Congress, was to provide the means of a permanent 
union of all the colonies under a general government. Certain 
Articles of Confederation were agreed upon in November, 1777, 
but were not accepted by all the states until March, 1781. As 
the government was not to go into effect until the consent of 
all the states should be obtained, this delay of more than three 

* '* If these states should either be wholly disunited," says Alexan- 
der Hamilton, " or only united in partial confederacies, a man must 
be far gone in ITtopian speculations, who can seriously doubt that the 
subdivisions into which they might be throv/n Avould have frequent 
and violent contests v/ith each other. To presume a want of motives 
for such contests, as an argument against their existence, would be 
to forget that men are ambitious, vindictive, and rapacious. To look 
for a continuation of harmony between a number of independent, 
unconnected sovereignties, situated in the same neighborhood, would 
be to disregard the uniform course of human events, and to set at 
defiance the accumulated experience of ages." 



ORGANIZATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 21 

years gave good opportunity for deliberation and discussion. 
It was soon found, however, that the Articles adopted were 
defective, not being sufficiently comprehensive and efficient 
for the government of a nation. The states were exceedingly 
jealous of their own rights, and, having realized a bitter expe- 
rience in their former relations with the parent country, they 
doubtless entertained fears, and raised doubts not justified by 
enlightened views. 

It soon became evident, from a gradual development of the 
subject by discussion, and from actual experience, that a new 
constitution was highly important, and, after several partial 
meetings in convention of a portion of the states, a general 
convention of commissioners was called from all the states, 
and met in Philadelphia in May, 1787. After very protracted 
deliberations, and great diversities of opinion, they finally, on 
the 17th of September, 1787, framed the present Constitution 
of the United States, and recommended it to be laid by the 
Congress before the several states, to be by them considered 
and ratified in conventions of the representatives of the peo- 
ple, to be called for that purpose. Conventions were accord- 
ingly called in all the states, except Rhode Island, and after 
many warm discussions, the Constitution was ratified by all of 
them, except North Carolina. and Rhode Island. It was sub- 
sequently adopted by North Carolina in November, 1789, and 
by Rhode Island in May, 1790. Vermont was admitted Feb- 
ruaiy 18, 1791. 

As the Preamble of the Constitution adopted imbodies the 
motives of those who framed and accepted it, we copy it as a 
lesson of instruction. 

" We, the people of the United States, in order to form a 
more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquil- 
lity, provide for the common defence, promote the general 
welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution of the 
United States of America." 

In making this brief and hasty recital of the events con- 



22 ORGANIZATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 

nected with the growtli of our state and general governments, 
we are compelled to confine ourselves to mere outline. We 
have deemed it pertinent to our suhject to notice these few 
details, as illustrating the different trials and processes through 
which these forms of government were passed before the 
results were reached, and which now bless our states and our 
general country. The work is one bearing all the marks of 
scrupulous care, of ability and integrity. Three different forms 
of government were tried by the different colonies, and three 
conventions were held by them, each convention performing 
its degree of labor, before the collected wisdom of the people 
could be imbodied and detailed in a shape that should at the 
same time practically meet the wants of the nation, and do 
justice to the cause of universal freedom.* 

* "The Constitution of the United States," says De Tocqueville, 
*• is like those exquisite productions of human industry which insure 
wealth and renoAvn to then- inventors, but which are profitless in 
other hands. This truth is exemplified by the condition of Mexico 
at the present time." We should be sorry to admit that this remark 
needed no qualification. The bare desire for a free government is a 
step towards it. The successful administration of it requires the wis- 
dom and experience of age, and these must be preceded by a certain 
amount of mental capacity. 

" A great equity lawyer," says Mr. "SVcbster,* " had truly said that, 
ever since the revolution of 168S, law had been the basis of public 
liberty. He held it to be undoubted that the state of society depends 
more on elementary law, and the principles and rules that control 
the transmission, distribution, and free alienation of property, than 
on positive institutions. Written constitutions sanctify and confirm 
great principles, but the latter were prior in existence to the former. 
Habeas Corpus Act, the Bill of Rights, Trial by Jury, -were surer bul- 
warks of right and liberty than written constitutions. The gradual 
establishment of our free institutions was the work of time and ex- 
perience, not the immediate result of any written instrument. 
English and our colonial history were full of those experiments in 
representative government which heralded and led to our more per- 
fect system. When our revolution made us independent, we had not 

* In his speech delivered at Charleston, S. C, at a dinner given him by 
the Charleston Bar. 



THE INDISSOLUBLE NATURE OF THE UNION. 23 

In this instrument and in the Declaration of Independence, 
are to be- found the fundamental principles of our national gov- 
ernment, and in which centre all those great sources of duty 
which involve justice and accountability. 

Every true friend of liberty finds a subject of congratula- 
tion in 

THE INDISSOLUBLE NATURE OF THE UNION. 

This indissoluble combination of sovereignties of a gradual 
and similar formation is one of those extraordinaiy events of 
time, in which all may recognize the ruling hand of Provi- 
dence. Such a union is one of inconceivable strength and 
permanency. We can see the elements of its growth, but we 
cannot even predict the beginning of the causes of its decay. 
It is enveloped in almost numberless circles of sovereignty. 
Its heart cannot be reached by danger. Towns, counties, 
states, and their unnumbered institutions, have each their own 
independent sphere of action, and their growing and diversi- 
fied ^rength is a perpetual source of power to the Union.* 

to frame government for ourselves — to h.ew it out of the original 
block of marble ; our history and experience presented it ready made 
and proportioned to our hands." 

The causes of progress may be found in the nature of man ; the 
means for their development in the nature of things ; and the re- 
sults appear in our character, laws, and institutions. These, as they 
are recorded, become important aids to new and further developments. 

* " Local assemblies of citizens," says De Tocqueville, " constitute 
the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what 
primary schools are to science ; they bring it within the people's 
reach, they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it." The same 
author says, in another place, " In the American states power has 
been disseminated with admirable skill, for the purpose of interest- 
ing the greatest possible number of persons in the common weal. 
Independently of the electors, who are from time to time called into 
action, the body politic is divided into innumerable functionaries and 
officers, who all, in their several spheres, represent the same power- 
ful whole, in whose name they act. The local administration thus 
aiFords an unfailing source of profit and interest to a vast number of 
individuals." 



24 THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

They are limbs of the great body pohtic. Their various 
modes of action, and the manifestation of their different views, 
sentiments, interests, and prejudices, are but the exercise 
necessary to their own growth, and to the healthy condition of 
that great body of which they are members. Its duration 
cannot be measured by man. The combined action of ene- 
mies without, and the assaults of party spirit within, can have 
no tendency, but to develop new energies, and to add new 
strength. It may rise in its grandeur and might for centuries 
to come ; have its periods of growth and decay, its blessings 
and its troubles ; but its changes can only be those of progress. 
Dissolution may be discussed, threatened, and, possibly, even 
attempted ; but every discussion will increase the knowledge 
of the indispensable necessity of union, every threat will add 
to the zeal of its friends, and every attempt to subvert it will 
create new safeguards for its protection and perpetuity. The 
physical world in its variety, and the mental world in its 
unity, encircle its boundaries and centralize its interests. 
The DISSOLUTION of such a UNION IS A MORAL iivrpossi- 

BILITY.* 

THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

is a sacred instrument, not only to the people of this country, 
but to the world. It is not a charter to bless a particular peo- 
ple, but the race. Our relation to the soil of this continent is 

* We find tlie following eloquent passage in the able report of the 
secretary of the treasury, December, 1847 : — 

" Upon this point, sectional fanatics, few in number at home, and 
despots abroad concurring with them, may hope or menace ; but the 
American Union is a moral and physical, a political and commercial 
necessity, and never can, or will, be dissolved. As well might we 
attempt to decompose the great element of nature which holds to- 
gether the planets, suns, and systems of the universe, as hope to sever 
the links of mighty lakes and rivers, of ever- extending telegraphs, 
railroads, and canals, of free trade, of intercourse, of interest, of love 
and affection, of the glories of the past, the present, and future, which 



THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES. 25 

but a temporary one. Though citizen transfers to citizen his 
deeds of pecuniary interest, his moral relation to the soil is 
one of sacred trust. All governments are commissions of trust, 
and prosperity and true glory await them only as they are 
faithfully executed. 

The Indian, the steward of one talent, buried it, and made 
no interest. " From him that hath not shall be taken away 
even that which he hath." We are endowed with more talents, 
and they involve corresponding responsibilities. If our work 
is of any account, it makes a part of that Providence which 
numbers the hairs of our heads, and directs the destiny of 
nations. If it be any thing, it is one of vast concern and strict 
accountability. 

Placed upon a continent of great extent, we are favored with 
that variety of climate and soil necessary to the countless 
products suited to the condition of man. Watered by mighty 
rivers and lakes, commerce moves its wealth upon them to 
every region of our land. The mountains meet the clouds in 
their heights, and send to our fields and valleys their fertilizing 
streams. Bound on every side with coasts and harbors, the 
products of our country are carried to every clime, and those 
of other nations are brought to ours. Enlivened and enriched 
by the spirit of enterprise, the valleys are exalted, the moun- 
tains are made low, and roads of iron radiate from every city, 
and are traversed with stupendous freights with the speed of 
the wind ; and with the speed of lightning, intelligence is 



must forever bind together the American Union. Indeed, when we 
look upon the American revolution, the framing of our Constitution, 
the addition of Louisiana, Florida, Texas, and Oregon, our ever- 
extending area, products, and population, our triumi)hs in war and 
peace, we must be blind to the past, and close our eyes upon the ful- 
filling realities of the future, if we cannot perceive and gratefully 
acknowledge that a higher than an eartlaly power still guards and 
directs our destiny, impels us onward, and has selected our great and 
happy country as a model and ultimate centre of attraction for all the 
nations of the world." 
3 



26 OUR GOVERNMENT THE RULE OF THE PEOPLE. 

transmitted from boundary to boundary of the entire continent. 
Steamships plough every ocean, and, with the aid of the 
mighty press, report all our acts to other nations, and they in 
return report to us. Experiments of governments, of sci- 
ence, and reform, are closely watched and studied by every 
people.* 

OUR GOVERNMENT IS THE RULE OF THE PEOPLE. 

It is a republic that secures, as from a common centre to its 
entire circumference, equal rights and freedom to all. It 
gives freedom to mind, security to body, and protection to 
interests. 

The democracy of the republic is in process of develop- 
ment.t The people are sovereign. Man stands alone, in his 
dignity, representing both government and subject. He acts 
for himself and for the greatest good of the whole people. 
The virtue of the masses is blended in action, and conscience 
is beginning to rule. Every man being made to feel that he 
is accountable to his God for the acts of his country, he is ever 
ready to serve her with unyielding integrity. He lives and 
rejoices in her gloiy, and suffers in her shame. Early taught 
at the district school, he knows the power of knowledge, and 



* See Appendix B. 

t •' If the men of our time were led by attentive observation, and by- 
sincere reflection, to acknowledge that the gradual and progressive 
development of sociaf equality is at once the past and future of their 
history, this solitary truth would confer the sacred character of a 
divine decree upon the change. To attempt to check democracy, 
would he, in that case, to resist the will of God ; and the nations 
would then be constrained to make the best of the social lot awarded 
to them by Providence." " Christianity, which has declared that all 
men are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to acknowledge 
that all citizens are equal in the eye of the law. But, by a singular 
concourse of events, religion is entangled in those institutions which 
democracy assails, and it is not unfrequently brought to reject the 
equality it loves, and to curse that cause of liberty as a foe, which it 
might hallow by its alliance." — De Tocqueville. 



OUR GOVERNMENT THE RULE OF THE PEOPLE. 27 

the sad penalties of ignorance. He fears nothing but wrong,' 
and claims nothing but right. 

Originating in millions of moral and intelligent beings, what 
a fearful aggregate of power to be delegated to rulers ! And 
with its privileges, what duties of fearful magnitude are imposed 
upon them ! What trusts from the nation, from the world, and 
from God ! 

An independent child of one of the greatest powers upon 
earth, our nation is looked upon as the great beacon of liberty 
and self-government throughout the world. The cause of 
democracy is the universal cause of equal rights and freedom, 
and it is placed with us, more than with any other people, to 
be protected, preserved, and advanced. It is not the cause of 
a day, but of all coming time ; not of a people, but of a 
world.* 

* Our national charities, our educational and religious missions, 
our constant commercial intercourse with all countries, serve to con- 
ciliate differences which separate the people of different nations from 
our o^vn, and to impose upon us those additional duties, which grati- 
tude in others, and success in ourselves, are sure to originate, as the 
high reward for the j)rivileges of doing good. 

"Nothing can be more desirable," says a sensible writer, "than 
to raise the minds of the American people to a * level with their sta- 
tion,' and to call off theu- thoughts from the narrow pursuits of per- 
sonal or national aggrandizement. A nobler object is set before them 
in the great moral enterprise to which this nation is called. Our 
field is the world. It is our influence on the whole human race that 
principally constitutes, it may be hoped, the peculiarity of American 
destiny. 

" It was long ago said, respecting the leader of our revolution, the 
great and good Washington, that he had filled the world with his 
own and his country's glory — that the Arab and the Tartar conversed 
about him in their tents. This was rhetorically uttered, but with 
sufficiently near approach to the truth to redeem the remark from 
mere declamation. 

" Our opinions have been embraced, and our example has been 
followed, in too many instances, not to indicate the general estimation 
in which the country is held abroad. Wherever revolutions in gov- 



28 THE DESTINY OF OUR NATION. 

We can utter, with a cheerful heart and fearless spirit, — 
" Our country, Jwwever hounded ; our country, right or 
wrongy Not to be continued in error ; but to be sustained 
when right, and to be righted when wrong. We have an 
individuaUty, as a nation, as we have personal identity as citi- 
zens. There should be a national consciousness, a national 
identity. Ail that makes the man helps make the nation, and 
all that makes the nation helps make the world. 

THE DESTINY OF OUR NATION 

has been alluded to by some of our public men with an elo- 
quence befitting the cause of truth, and with a judgment indic- 
ative of rare attainments. Others, we regret to observe, have 
spoken of the subject as one of frivolous assumption, and as 
the forced conviction of party, and for party purposes. 

We can understand and respect a man who honestly con- 
tends against our faith, for we are equally concerned in all the 
great objects of existence. Truth is our common friend ; but 
there is a withering levity in the spirit that would ponder 
lightly the solemn convictions of any one who believes in a 
destiny, whether concerning his own soul or his own country. 
It is an inspiration of high sentiment, if not of logical deduc- 
tion ; and the faith, whether from instinct or knowledge, is 
entitled to be reverenced and honored. We are not beings of 
chance ; our country is not an accident in the providence of 
God. If we have evil, it is the legitimate fruit of sin, — a 
warning to men and nations doing wrong. If we are blessed 

eminent have been attempted, or realized, in modern times, the model 
has evidently been America, the encouragement America's success. 
France, Greece, Belgium, Mexico, and the republics of South Amer- 
ica, each strove to change thou* condition, in the expectation of secur- 
ing somewhat of the freedom and happiness of these United States." 
— Christian Spectator, March, 1834. 

These remarks were published in 1834. "What a chapter of national 
events, which have transpired since that time, might be made up, our 
readers have no occasion to be advised. 



THE DESTINY OF OUR NATION. 29 

with goodness, the examples endure forever, as encourage- 
ments to. those doing right. Every person and every nation 
has a destiny marked by an Almighty hand. What that has 
been to us and to our country in past time, is a matter of his- 
tory, the beginning of its being ; but what it is to be, no human 
wisdom can predict, affirm, or deny. If we believe in a God 
of infinite power and love, our aspirations in sentiment should 
elevate us to that condition of confident hope unknown to the 
atheist, the anchor to the soul that is true to its divine 
integrity. (See Appendix.) 



REVIEW OF THE LATE WAR WITH MEXICO. 



REVIEW OF THE LATE WAR 

BETWEEN THE REPUBLICS OF THE UNITED STATES 
AND MEXICO. 



In proceeding to execute our plan, in leaving general 
topics for specific ones, in discussing measures of govern- 
ment which have been, or which are, the reader must not 
deem us officious if we ask him to accompany us in the in- 
vestigations which are to follow, with a spirit of candor and 
divested of all prejudice. 

The subjects which we propose to discuss are of great con- 
cern, though generations have passed away, each leaving its 
own mark of wisdom upon them. They are among the high- 
est and holiest which can claim the attention of man, and the 
common interest, in which all are sharers, should be a defence 
against selfish views or disguised positions. Let us remember 
the injunction of Tacitus, " Veritas visu et mora, falsafesti- 
natione et incertis valescunt.'''^ Let us bring to our aid those 
views and fundamental principles which have already re- 
ceived our attention, and endeavor to place ourselves in that 
relation of duty which shall be in harmony with their requi- 
sitions. 

In considering the subject of. this chapter, the late loar 
between the United States and Mexico , we are almost 
necessarily led first to the great and yet unsettled question 
of war itself. 



WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR ? 31. 



WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR ." 

What is its design ? What may it accomplish in the provi- 
dence of God ? Is it necessary, is it justifiable, under any cir- 
cumstances ? What have nations done to avert it ? W^hat can 
they do ? What ought they to do ? These are questions re- 
peatedly asked, and with a sincerity of purpose which is ever 
entitled to consideration. 

Men have courage boldly to make war, to sanction it, to 
provide means for its prosecution, to acknowledge its good re- 
sults ; but they do not seem to be persuaded that it admits of 
that unquestionable moral defence which challenges all contro- 
versy, as a settled provision of nature. All nations admit its 
necessity, by providing for it ; and all nations are professedly 
in favor of peace. It is fostered by all nations as a defence, 
and dreaded by all as a calamity. It is viewed by the same 
people as the protecting power of substantial blessings, and as 
a curse entailed upon the race by the wickedness of man.* If 
it be a curse, its failure should prove a blessing ; and yet 
there can be no failure in war without disgrace, no success 
without glory. Hundreds of generations have been born to 
life, and have returned to dust ; nations have risen to splendor 

* A recent writer, of ability and eloquence, alludes to th.e term 
" laws of tear" as an absurdity. "Laws in that," he says, ''which is 
lawless ! order in disorder ! rules of wrong ! " He is inconsistent 
with himself. The acknowledgment of law in what has been laioless 
is a step towards conventional control. The absvirdity appears only in. 
the assumption and use of false premises. See an oration delivered 
by Charles Sumner, (Boston, 1845,) entitled The True Grandeur of 
Nations. "We admire the spirit of this author ; it is xwxr against toar ; 
but he is in advance of the age. He is not practical. He should study 
more the nature of man — the nature of things. He has pictured to us 
the splendors of space without an acknowledgment of the forces that 
move the bodies which fill it. He has given the rainbow in its beau- 
ty, but has forgotten the cloud and its thunders which produced it. 
He has given us the grandeur of nations, but he has detached it from 
the conditions of mortality. 



32 WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR ? 

and power, and have fallen to decay ; even a world of being 
has been swept from the earth by deluge, and war has been 
the common lot of all ; and yet but few seem willing to ac- 
knowledge the hand of Providence in the recognition of its 
mighty movements, or its mighty aims. 

Man has become an apologist for his Maker, rather than the 
student of his laws. He admits his rule, but practically denies 
his wisdom. The events of war are unqualifiedly condemned 
as sinful, and yet they are said to be overruled by Providence 
for the ultimate good of all ! as if man's errors were necessa- 
ry to Omnipotence ! as if infinite wisdom was in eternal con- 
flict with its own designs ! as if infinite power were forced to 
conditions of compromise ! as if infinite love had failed in its 
mission to nations ! as if infinite justice had proved impracti- 
cable ! and infinite mercy an unappreciable blessing ! 

In his infinite goodness may God help us to be faithful, not 
only in belief, but in our professions of duty. Let us be true 
to the highest standard that is within us, or about us, and exe- 
cute our convictions according to our best knowledge ; but, 
in whatever we thinlc or do, may our entire being submit to 
the sublimest of truths, that there is a God infinite in all his 
attributes, whose will is reality, and whose nature is universal 
good. The existence of evil proves the necessity of reform in 
the moral, religious, and physical nature of man. We can dis- 
cover no defect in this necessity, but rather the only condition 
of being that admits of progress ; the only process which 
admits of accountability, and of that ever-increasing purity of 
character which comes from a growing knowledge of God and 

all his works. We 

" cannot go 

Where universal love not smiles around, 
Sustaining all yon orbs and all their suns ; 
From seeming evil still educing good, 
And better thence again, and better still, 
In infinite progression." 

We can doubt the existence of all external things ; we can 
doubt even our own being, and find relief in the reflection that 



WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR? 33 

our reason has become a wreck ; but the doubt that would lessen 
the rule of Omnipotence in the least of all things, would open 
upon us that dreadful and withering alternative, that he who 
fails in the least of things may fail in the greatest. With us, 
such a doubt can have no place. 

What is war ? War is a form of national death or suffer- 
ing. It is the conflict of arms between two nations to sustain 
right, or in attempts to continue wrong. Or, in the language 
of the Hon. Mr. Rhett, of S. C.,* " In its effects it is not con- 
fined to those engaged in military operations. It is not with 
the army and navy merely. War is a state of hostility and 
enmity between every man, woman, and child, of one nation, 
with every man, woman, and child, of another nation. All 
property, as well as life, is subject between the belligerents to 
the law of violence every where — on sea or land." But this 
question leads us to first principles, and to ask lohat are the prin 
ciples of war, the fundamental principles of war, as developed 
in man and in nature. 

We may learn much from analogy. All nature is made elo- 
quent by the power of God, and speaks the language of truth 
itself. Let us study what we can see, what we can know, 
without arrogating those impious assumptions that would make 
us wise above our Maker. 

We find the principle of war in all things, even in peace 
societies against war. It may be seen in the elements, 
as displayed in the tempests of the sky and upon the bil- 
lows of the mighty deep. It may be found in the earth, 
in its soils and substances ; t in the countless forais of 
vegetable growth, in their processes of decay and reproduc- 
tion. J It may be seen in the insect v/orld, as illustrated by 

* See Speech, of Mr. Rhett, delivered in the U. S. House of Repre- 
sentatives. 

t As developed in chemistry. The term. jjoisoti is but another word 
for loar, — the war of matter. 

X Plants are poisonous and antidotal. Many of them, and shrubs, 
have means of defence. These means are the prickles and thorns 



34 WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR i 

its systems of defence, conquest, and destruction.* It may- 
be seen in the viper's fang,t in the heron's claw,| and in the 
woodpecker's tongue.§ It may be seen in the Hon's tooth, and 

with, whicli we find them armed. The euphorbia, the cactus, and 
other similar plants, are in a good degree preserved by theh thorns from 
violence. The gardener may protect the rose in the greenhouse, but it 
relies upon its OAvn means of protection in the field. We have a sin- 
gular example in the dloncea muscipula. " Its leaves are jointed, and 
furnished with two rows of strong prickles ; their surfaces covered 
with a number of minute glands, &c. When these parts are touched 
by the legs of flies, the two lobes of the leaf instantly spring up, the 
rows of prickles lock themselves fast together, and squeeze the unwa- 
ry animal to death." In this description of Smellie, we have omitted 
any allusion " to a sweet liquor" which he supposes was secreted by 
the glands to allure the flies. Such is not the fact. 

* The reader must be familiar with numerous examples illustrat- 
ing this remark. Some of the most interesting may be found in the 
history of the ant and the bee. 

t Th.efang of a viper is a clear and curious example of mechanical 
contrivance. It is a perforated tooth, loose at the root ; in its quiet 
state lying down flat upon the jaw, but furnished with a muscle, 
which, with a jerk, and by the pluck, as it were, of a string, sudden- 
ly erects it. Under the tooth, close to its root, and communicating 
with the perforation, lies a small bag containing the venom. When 
the fang is raised, the closing of the jaw presses its root against the 
bag underneath, and the force of this compression sends out the fluid, 
with a considerable impetus, through the tube in the middle of the 

tooth Paley's Natural Theology. That the venom of the serpent has 

its use in nature, there can be no question. That there are exempts 
from its dangers may be inferred from the warning which the rattle- 
snake gives when about to bite, and from the shining qualities of the 
cencoatl in the dark, (a poisonous snake of Mexico,) to notify the 
traveller of its presence, and of his danger. 

X The middle claw of the heron and cormorant is toothed and 
notched like a saw. These birds are great fishers, and these notches 
assist them in holding their slippery prey. 

§ The woodpecker lives chiefly upon insects lodged in the bodies 
of decayed or decaying trees. For the purpose of boring into the 
wood, it is furnished with a bill, straight, hard, angular, and sharp. 
When, by means of this piercer, it has reached the cells of the insects, 
then comes the ofiice of its tongue ; which tongue, first, is of such a 



WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR ? 35 

in the eye of the monarch of the sea.* It may be seen m all 
things which have life or growth ; in the means of defence with 
which they are supplied, implying power of attack or resistance. 
If we look into society, we find the elements of war in the 
defence which is given to liberty of person, of property, and of 
life. In violation of law, all are taken by common consent of 
society. The vagrant is fined, the criminal punished, and the 
murderer hanged. t Here we find violence to meet violence, 
even between individuals, where a milder course is practica- 
ble, and would prove more efficient ; and yet before this step 
is taken, nations are called upon to denounce war, when all 
other remedies, in the present condition of the world, are im- 
practicable. All reforms commence with the individual, and, 
after passing through the various conventional circles, reach 
the nation. Let the commencement be seen before the end is 
demanded. 

length, that the bu'd can dart it out three or four inches from the bill, 
in this respect differing greatly from every other species of bird; in 
the second place, it is tipped with a stiff, sharp, bony thorn ; and in 
the third place, this tip is dentated on both sides, like the beard of an. 
arrow or the barb of a hook. — Paley's Natural Theology. 

* In vicAving the structure of the eye, as adjusted to the condition 
of fishes, we may remark the peculiar thickness of the sclerotic coat 
in the whale. Although he breathes the atmosphere, and lies out ob. 
the surface of the water, to escape his enemies he will plunge sc'M1«» 
hundi-ed fathoms deep. The pressure therefore must be very great upon 
his surface, and on the surface of the eye. — De la Beche. When we 
make a section of the whole eye, cutting through the cornea, the 
sclerotic coat, which is dense as tanned leather, increases in thick- 
ness towards the back part, and is fu.ll five times the thickness be- 
hind that it is at the anterior part. The natural enemies of the whale 
are the sword-fish and the shark ; and it is stated, that this huge 
creature, being without means of defence of any kind, carries his ene- 
mies, that have fixed vipon him, to a depth of water, and consequently 
to a pressui'c, which subdues them, as their bodies are not constituted 
for such depths. It is under this instinct that when the whale 
receives the harpoon, he dives to the bottom. 

t Many of the most respectable citizens of Massachusetts, exempli 
gratia, have for many years opposed, with all their ability and influ- 



36 WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR ? 

If we turn to man, we find him a being of thought and pas- 
sions, a Hving example of conflict within himself, and with 
others ; * his mind endowed with powers to discover, and his 
limbs with aptitudes for destruction and defence. We find his 
physical system guarded by numberless laws, as by a soldiery, 
inflicting pains for all acts of violation and neglect. Pain is 
the body's protector, its scourge and friend. If we follow 
him to the world of thought, there science and religion are 
found to be contests for truth ; and all the elements of right 
and wrong, in that eternal conflict of which no man can pre- 
dict the end. We find him at the head of nations, with his 
armies of attack and defence, and with a magnitude of means 
corresponding to the magnitude of his power. Man meets 
man, nations meet nations. Instinct points out the enemy of an 
insect, reason discovers the enemy of man. What is this but 
a system of divine beneficence ? a beautiful system of progres- 
sive growth in the forms of matter and of mind. It gives 
even to death a feature of beauty, inasmuch as it makes an in- 
dispensable element of life. It is but the steps between the 
great changes in the ceaseless progress of all created things. 
There are forms of death to every form of life. There are 
conditions of life to every form of being. Even the immortal- 
ity of the soul itself is based upon this principle ; it cannot live 
except the body die. And with what awe and submission should 
we speak it, — the infinite love of the Father of all is made 
known to his children by the blood of His only Son stream- 
ing from the cross ! What is it, then, that we would ask ? are 
we wise above God, that we should blindly regard his works ? 
Are nations without the pale of God's laws and protection ? 

ence, the abolition of capital punishment ; and yet they are violent in 
their opposition to war. They are willing to put a population of 
more than 700,000 people against a single unarmed man to the death, 
and still they cannot see the necessity of war ! Some of the other 
States are in the same position. Some have made a glorious begin- 
ning in the cause of reform, by abolishing capital punishment. 
* St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, chap. vii. 



WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR? "^S? 

Have we no faith in his ways, no beUef in his providence ? 
Rather let us confess ignorance, than profess knowledge that 
is impious. War at all times is a power of ^ fearful respon- 
sibility. Let us study its principle, and learn its conditions, 
that peace may come from knowledge.* Let us point 
out its terrible penalties, that wisdom may realize the great 
privilege of avoiding them. Let us find the value of life by 
knowing its conditions ; its objects, by understanding its laws. 
Our position is one of ignorance and imperfection ; and men- 
tal darkness is a state of suffering. Our destiny is one of prog- 
ress ; a gradual increase of mental light. A state of ignorance 
and imperfection is a state of war, implying all the causes 
necessary to produce it. A state of knowledge and obedience 
to God's laws, is a state of peace, implying all the causes 
necessary to preserve it. 

Because we find in war an important element of reform, 
because we find it in the constitution of God's providence, we 
would not withhold our admiration from the friends of peace. 
The mission of Christ was one of peace, and we honor all who 

* Where a high state of civilization is found, there also the arts of 
war will be fully understood. But the axiom, that inferiority of war- 
like implements proves an unwarlike nation, is false ; for wars have 
been as numerous, as bitter, and as continuing, when waged by bar- 
barians with no better weapons than clubs and arrows, as when we 
have laid all the powers of chemistry and mechanism under contribu- 
tion, to do that scientifically in the mass, that the savage is forced to 
do, like a butcher, with his own hand, in detail. Indeed, the more 
certain the efficiency of the destructive engines, the more certain is 
the reign of peace. — Revieio of Hoivison's Eurojiean Colonies. Metrop. 
Mag. Lond. Vol. XI. p. 181. The patents taken out in the United 
States for the invention of ** firearms and implements of war, aiid parts 
thereof including the manufacture of shot atid gimpoioder," stand as 
belonging to the citizens of the several States as follows : Maine, 7 ; 
N. H., 6 ; Vt., 5 ; Mass., 40 ; R. I., 1 ; Conn., 20 ; N. Y., 50 ; N. J., 
3 ; Penn., 46 ; Del., 2 ; Md., 10 ; Va., 10 ; S. C, 2 ; Ga., 1 ; Ala., 1 ; 
La., 1 ; Ky., 3 ; Ohio, 9 ; Mich., 1 ; Ind., 2 ; Mo., 1 ; — all other 
States, none. See the valuable reports of the Hon. Edmund Burke, 
Commissioner of the IT. S. Patent Office. 
4 



38» WHAT IS THE NATURE OF WAR ? 

follow in the glory of his teachings. Their standard is in the 
bow of the cloud, reflecting beauty to a world. Their mission 
comes after war, and without war their mission had not been 
known.* War, like a storm in its dark masses, moves over 
the fair face of nature, spreading dismay and destruction in its 
path; while peace, with its benignant smiles, like the sunshine, 
follows and lights up the scenes of its past fuiy, and gains new 
features of beauty, and new joys by contrast. War destroys 
but to renovate, and it is the province of peace to exalt and 
beautify. The soldier and the friend of peace can exist only 
together.! The friend of peace is the friend of man, the phi- 

* In a discourse recently delivered by the Rev. Dr. Dewey, before 
the American Peace Society, he manifests a candor that is hardly in 
keeping with his views. He says, " In past years I have often thought 
and said, that the cause of peace languished for the want of antago- 
nism. The case seemed too plain. The cause was too good. There 
was not opposition enough to stir up the requisite zeal in its friends. 
But within a year past a spirit has sprung up in this very country 
that offers antagonism enough. "We see that the war spirit has not 
died out of the human heart." Dr. Dewey is not an ultra partisan in 
respect to war. He says, " for I do not contend that h\ every possi- 
ble case it is wnrong to take the sword." 

t " AVe hear much (not too much, certainly) concerning the hor- 
rors of war. The picture which is drawn of those horrors is not over- 
charged. It is all true to fact and reality. The catalogue of atroci- 
ties which war occasions is easily filled up, because those atrocities 
are public, notorious transactions, enacted in the open face of Heav- 
en. The passions that lead to them are such as may be indulged, 
through the license of the world's opinion, without scruple. But 
can any reflecting man doubt, that as large, if not a still larger cata- 
logue of what may be called the horrors of peace, — such, I mean, as 
belong exclusively to a time of peace, such as war banishes, and 
may perhaps be regarded as a remedy for in Providence, — might be 
made out ? Take, for example, the times that preceded the first 
French revolution ; consider the state of society in that country, the 
morals of the people in all classes, the monstrous abuses which were 
not only tolerated but consecrated by the insane delusion which left, 
unburied and chained to the living body of society, the dead and 
corrupt past ; and if our horror at the bloody scenes Avhich followed 






i 



CHRISTIAN NATIONS AND WAR. 39 

lanthropist that would lift him to duty and to happiness. The 
soldier is the fearless pioneer who gives him opportunity to 
make known and to execute his beneficent purposes, and to 
accomplish his ends. The soldier strikes down the barriers of 
wickedness which claim no defence but in physical strength, 
and which reason and intelligence would require long ages to 
overcome ; and it is the friend of peace who follows in his 
mildness, but in his power, to establish harmony, and to make 
known the moral laws of God, where ignorance, sin, and mis- 
ery only were known before. 

All Christian nations agree that war is a calamity pregnant 
with inherent evils, and fraught with consequences which every 
patriot who is true to the noblest attributes of his nature sin- 
cerely strives to avert. On this momentous subject the civilized 
world stands united in theory, and every consideration of a moral 
nature seems to confirm and strengthen this proposition as one 
of ultimate adoption. The entire voice of two hundred mil- 
lions of Catholics and Protestants responds amen to the uni- 
versal prayer for peace among all nations. No man in his heart, 
no nation in its councils, no league in its policy, demands war. 

is not diminished, is not our amazement less, when we trace those 
scenes to their true cause ? * * * We can see what the contem- 
poraries of the great tragedy were too near to discern, — that the 
interests of humanity required that there should be a violent social 
convulsion, and an overthrow of existing institutions. The soil of 
society must be broken up by the ploughshare of revolution and war, 
before it could be prepared to produce what humanity craved. Con- 
sider the thirty years of peace with which the nations of the first 
class in Christendom have been blessed since the career of Napoleon 
was terminated on the decisive field of Waterloo. And is there any 
thinking man among us, so blindly wedded to theory, or so afraid of 
betraying a good cause by acknowledging a plain truth, who believes 
or will assert that such a peace could have been enjoyed for so long 
a period, had it not been preceded by the desolating but purifying 
flame of war, which was allowed to pass over the earth, and to burn 
up the corrupt noxious materials that had been accumulating for 
centuries ? — Rev. Mr. hunt's Artillery Election Discourse. (Boston, 
1847.) 



40 STANDARD OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. 

The statesman who gives direction to the destiny of his coun- 
try by internal measures of economy, and who frames treaties 
with foreign powers for the protection of rights and the just 
interests of men, admits of no principle which would justify 
war in preference to an honorable peace, or predicate the 
welfare of a nation upon the magnitude of its power. All 
rest upon the illimitable basis of Christian principle, which 
has its origin in the will of the Almighty, and its develop- 
ment in the deeds of good men, and in the just measures of 
nations. This is the acknowledged standard of the Christian 
world. 

With this standard before us, it becomes a serious question 
how far war has been or may be made the instrument of power 
in advancing the cause of human freedom, and of securing to 
the citizen of every clime a just and permanent government. 
The progress of nations is as unequal as that of individuals ; 
and as the freedom and prosperity of the latter always stand 
in relation to the stability of the former, all temporary, 
minor considerations of individual interest, or of comfort, 
should be made to yield to the ultimate good of all. The 
want of principle in a nation which denies to its citizens that 
protection to which they are entitled ; the weakness of a gov- 
ernment which is continually subjecting its citizens to changes 
destructive of all those privileges which render existence a 
blessing ; the subserviency of a nation professing to be free 
and independent, and which fails to take care of itself; its 
submission to degrading terms of stronger powers, are causes 
sufficient to produce not only revolutions at home, but to 
undermine and absolutely to destroy all confidence in the sta- 
bility and integrity of its government abroad. Such a people 
and such a nation becomes a living reproach to the form of 
government which it has adopted, and a legitimate prey to all 
enemies of free institutions. The penalty for all violation of 
principle, if continued and persisted in, whether done by an 
individual or a nation, is inevitable ; it is uncompromising de- 
struction. The individual loses his liberty, but the nation its 



WAR INCIDENT TO HUMANITY. 41 

existence. The law secures the former, while the strong 
power of the sword ends the latter. The former is a measure 
to protect society, the latter for the protection and advance- 
ment of nations. Any nation that submits to insult and wrong, 
loses the measure of its own influence in advancing her true 
interests, and is false to posterity. The fact of yielding to 
another power, where justice forbids it, is a double wrong — 
it favors neither party as a measure of policy, and impairs the 
power of both to promote the universal cause of humanity. 
In this view, war to the nation is what justice is to the individ 
ual. It is a result, in the nature of things, which becomes in 
its turn a most powerful cause in the correction of evils of the 
greatest magnitude. Thus it has ever been, and thus it will 
ever continue, until nations shall be prepared for a different 
course. 

In the deep and mighty current of all past time, war has 
been incident to humanity, a part of the destiny of all nations, 
of all ages ; and it is with a feeling of awe and reverence that 
we are forced to admit that it is yet to be the mysterious and 
terrible instrument of good, in the ruling of that Providence 
which governs and controls the world of worlds, and all appa- 
rent differences adjust in final harmony. " So soon as Chris- 
tianity shall gain a full ascendency in the world," says Dr. 
Chalmers, " from that moment war is to disappear." 

There is no power which is fundamental or permanent but 
moral power ^ and that endures forever. All physical power, all 
forms of existence, whether conventional or national, are tem- 
porary, and are incidental to the great ends of life. Nothing 
can preserve a nation but moral power, and if physical power 
be employed to sustain any other principle, it destroys its own 
means. Ultimate success, in a just loar^ is inevitable. Ulti- 
mate success, in an unjust icar, is impossible. Injustice can- 
not be successful in the very nature of things. It may appear 
to be so, but this appearance is utterly deceptive. To admit 
such a proposition would be atheistical. 

The great evils of war, such as the loss of life, violence, 
4* 



43 SUBJECTS PKOPOSED. 

expenditure of means, are entirely of a transient nature. They 
appear very formidable as the events of time, but in relation 
to eternity, utterly insignificant. Death is the lot of all, but 
the death of a soldier should be signalized as a sacrifice in the 
great cause of humanity. 

Most of the great expenditures of government in war are 
made among its own people, and the evils usually attributed to 
them are doubtless oftentimes much exaggerated. The checks 
lo trade and industry, the absorption of time and talents for a 
single object to the neglect of others, are evils which all 
deplore ; but they are temporary. Temporary evils, or pri- 
vate sufferings, are of no account whatever in determining the 
solenm duty of a nation when called upon to prosecute a war 
that is just.* When justice requires it, war becomes a national 
duty. Let it be so regarded, let it be so understood, and wars 
will be lessened. Let the penalties of a. nation's wrong be as 
terrible as its power is mighty. Let its might be on the side of 
right and freedom ; let its decrees protect the good, and be a 
source of terror to the wicked. Let a nation's glory be a 
nation's righteousness, and its wars will be few and victorious. 

The war that is just closed has been with a sister Republic, a 
nation professedly of free institutions, and claiming to stand 
upon the same platform as our own. In her prosperity Mexico 
had our congratulations, and in her misfortunes she had our 
sympathy. And while it is to be lamented that, her first war 
of any duration with another nation has been with the United 
States, it must be regarded as a singular truth, that by no other 
foreign power could she have been chastised and saved. 

Our inquiries with respect to this war will embrace, 1st, Its 
causes ; 2d, A comparative view of the acts of the two govern- 
ments ; 3d, The prosecution of the war ; and 4th, Its justice 
and results. 

* See Appendix D. 



THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. 43 



THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. 

In analyzing causes of national acts, it is a common error to 
confound the fundamental with the casual, and thus to lose that 
literal order of cause and effect which alone exhibits events in 
their true relation. The process of cause and effect in the 
formation of national character, though not always obvious to 
the student, is subjected to undeviating laws. The success or 
failure of a nation is no accident. The virtue or vice of a 
people come not from chance. Chance may have its meaning 
with man, but it has no place in Providence. National growth 
or decay, national strength or weakness, national glory or deg- 
radation, may be traced by a faithful hand to a series of causes 
as exact and certain, could they be pictured to the eye, as the 
development of a flower from the seed, or an oak from the 
acorn. The moral world without laws would be a nullity. 
The moral world without certainty would be a mockery. The 
moral world without growth and progress would be an ab- 
surdity. 

We would not be understood as making the assertion, that 
all events may be clearly traced to their legitimate causes, for 
the mind of man is not yet equal to the task : time and knowl- 
edge may lead to this ; but we confidently state our belief in that 
constitution of things which is governed by eternal and unal- 
terable laws, and which would prove to us the greatest source 
of evidence, if we would but patiently study its parts and solve 
its beautiful harmony. All philosophy is but a knowledge of 
cause and effect, and all success, the result of correct applica- 
tion of its principles. 

In proceeding, therefore, to investigate the causes of the war 
between the United States and Mexico, we shall endeavor to 
avoid the errors which have appeared to characterize the dis- 
cussions of Congress and the views of journalists. With all 
deference to abler minds, it has seemed to us that ultimate 
effects have been placed as primary causes, and that the casual 



44 THE CAUSES OF THE WAR. 

has been mistaken for the fundamental.* Not that any event 
should be excluded, in the examination, which is calculated to 
enlighten ; but that we should not deceive ourselves by de- 
rangement of evidence. We need not warn the reader against 
the fallacy of the ancient metaphysicians, in the adoption of 
syllogisms to prove the truth of a proposition ; and yet, if a 
parallel were wanting, there is much in modern logic that 
would furnish it without violence or injustice.! 

* " The Peace Society of Massachusetts near 1825 instituted an 
inquiry into the actual causes of war, and, besides a multitude of 
petty ancient wars, and of those waged by Christian nations with 
tribes of savages, ascertained 286 wars of magnitude to have had the 
following origin : 22 for plunder or tribute ; 44 for the extension of 
territory ; 24 for retaliation or revenge ; 6 about disputed boundaries ; 
8 respecting points of honor or prerogative ; 5 for the protection or 
exteuoion of comnerce ; 55 civil wars ; 41 about contested titles to 
crowns ; 30 under pretence of assisting allies ; 23 from mere jealousy 
of rival greatness ; 28 religious wars, including the crusades ; not one 
for defence alone." — Peace Society Tracts No. LVII. 

AVhat a commentary on divine Providence ! If we are permitted 
to finish our more extended work on the late war, it is our purpose 
to enlarge upon this topic. 

t The ancient metaphysicians conceived that most questions could 
be settled by syllogisms. It was certainly very convenient. They 
always had logical truth in their o"v\ti keeping. The following prop- 
ositions, which we give firom memory, ex gr., were clearly proved 
syllor/ istically . 

" A glass of wine fuddles a man." 
" A kernel of grain makes a bushel." 
" A feather breaks a camel's back." 

The process is quite irresistible. The question is repeated for each 
glass of wine given to the man, for each kernel of grain put into the 
measure, and for each feather put upon the camel's back. Will the 
frsf produce the result? No. WUl the second? No; and so forth, 
until the negative is changed to the affirmative. It is the last glass, 
the last kernel, the last feather, that produces the result. The proof 
is complete ; and what was considered remarkable by the ancients, 
it is complete by consent of parties. By this process, the march to 
the Pio Grande may be placed methodically as the cause of the war. 
Was there war before the march r No. Was there war after the 
march ? and so forth. 



ANCIENT MEXICO. 45 

In order to judge correctly of the causes of this war, it is 
necessary thsLt we should understand the present and past con- 
dition of the two nations. What has Mexico been, and what 
has she done ? What have been the acts of the United States 
with regard to Mexico ? These are questions which, if properly 
answered, will give us some insight into the true causes of 
the war. 

Our prescribed limits will not pei'mit us to give many details 
of history, further than mere outlines that may enable the 
reader to understand our views. If we would fully understand 
the Mexican character, we must study the Aztec race before 
the conquest of Cortes. It is quite true the changes since that 
period have been many and great ; still, without some knowl- 
edge of the causes which have produced them, we cannot 
hope to avoid errors of opinion in respect to the Mexicans as 
they are. Let us turn for a moment to 

ANCIENT MEXICO. 

The following quotations from Prescott's Conquest of 
Mexico, — and we cannot quote from this author without 
commending him for his ability and faithfulness, — may be 
here introduced with great propriety, as affording in a few 
words his reflections upon the fall of that ancient empire, and 
particularly as they embrace the elements of the causes which 
produced that fall. 

After speaking of the wonders of the conquest, of its romantic 
and legendary features, he says, — 

" Yet we cannot regret the fall of an empire which did so 
little to promote the happiness of its subjects, or the real inter- 
ests of humanity. Notwithstanding the lustre thrown over its 
latter days by the glorious defence of its capital, by the mild 
munificence of Montezuma, by the dauntless heroism of 
Guatemozin, the Aztecs were emphatically a fierce and brutal 
race, little calculated, in their best aspects, to excite our sym- 
pathy and regard. Their civilization, such as it was, was not 



46 ANCIENT MEXICO. 

their own, but reflected, perhaps imperfectly, from a race 
whom they had succeeded in the land. It was in respect to 
the Aztecs, a generous graft on a vicious stock, and could have 
brought no fruit to perfection. They ruled over their wide 
domains with a sv/ord, instead of a sceptre. They did nothing 
to ameliorate the condition or in any way promote the progress 
of their vassals. Their vassals were serfs, used only to min- 
ister to their pleasm-e, held in awe by armed garrisons, ground 
to the dust by imposts in peace, by military conscriptions in 
war. They did not, like the Romans, whom they resembled 
in the nature of their conquests, extend the rights of citizenship 
to the conquered. They did not amalgamate them into one 
great nation, with common rights and interests. They held 
them as aliens, even those who, in the valley, were gathered 
round the very walls of the capital. The Aztec metropolis, 
the heart of the monarchy, had not a sympathy, not a pulsation, 
in common with the rest of the body politic. It was a stranger 
in its own land. 

" The Aztecs not only did not advance the condition of their 
vassals, but, morally speaking, they did much to degrade it. 
How can a nation, where human sacrifices prevail, and espe- 
cially when combined with cannibalism, further the march of 
civilization ? How can the interests of humanity be consulted, 
where man is levelled to the ranks of the brutes that perish ? 
The influence of the Aztecs introduced their superstition into 
lands before unacquainted with it, or where, at least, it was 
not established in any great strength. The example of the 
capital was contagious. As the latter increased in opulence, 
the religious celebrations were conducted with still more terrible 
magnificence — in the same manner as the gladiatorial shows 
of the Romans increased in pomp with the increasing splendor 
of the capital. Men became famihar with scenes of horror 
and the most loathsome abominations ; women and children — 
the whole nation — became familiar with and assisted at them. 
The heart was hardened, the manners were made ferocious, 
the feeble light of civilization, transmitted from a milder race, 



MODERN MEXICO. 47 

was growing fainter and fainter, as thousands and thousands 
of miserable victims, throughout the empire, w^ere yearly fat- 
tened in its cages, sacrificed on its altars, dressed and served 
at its banquets ! The whole land was converted into a vast 
human shambles ! The empire of the Aztecs did not fall 
before its time." 

In another place, comparing the ancient with the modern 
Mexicans, the same accomplished historian remarks, — 

" The American Indian has something peculiarly sensitive 
in his nature. He shrinks instinctively from the rude touch of 
a foreign hand. Even when this foreign influence comes in 
the form of civilization, he seems to sink and pine away 
beneath it. It has been so with the Mexicans. Under the 
Spanish domination, their numbers have silently melted away. 
Their energies are broken. They no longer tread their moun- 
tain plains with the conscious independence of their ancestors. 
In their faltering step, and meek and melancholy aspect, we 
read the sad characters of the conquered race. The cause of 
humanity, indeed, has gained. They live under a better sys- 
tem of laws, a more assured tranquillity, a purer faith. But 
all does not avail. Their civilization was of the hardy char- 
acter which belongs to wilderness. The fierce virtues of the 
Aztec were all his own." 

For our present purpose it is unnecessary to add to the lan- 
guage of Prescott, in regard to ancient Mexico, as it is of 
greater importance that we should give a more particular atten- 
tion to 

MODERN MEXICO. 

Under the most favorable circumstances, a colonial govern- 
ment labors under numerous disadvantages. Detached and 
isolated from the sources of its own power, it cannot realize 
that individuality necessary to energy and advancement. Genius 
can have no encouragement to give birth to enlightened 
systems of national polity, which, to be developed, requires 
national concentration ; and individual pride lies dormant 



48 MODERN MEXICO. 

where the ultimate objects of ambition centre in powers of 
foreign origin and foreign control. Such evils increase with 
the increase of population. 

This was true of the British American colonies, where the 
people were of common origin and of one blood. But if we 
look to the condition of the Spanish colonies of North America, 
before the separation of the viceroyalty of Mexico from the 
crown of Spain, we shall find the blighting influences of hate, 
jealousy, and revenge giving character to the motives and acts 
of the different races, castes, and orders, and rendering gov- 
ernment a military rule, and necessarily destructive to the 
rights and well-being of the people. The outrages of the 
Spaniards in the overthrow of the Montezumas make the real 
and traditionary history of the mixed castes and native inhabit- 
ants of Mexico ; and their hate has been continued for centu- 
ries, and but little unabated even to the time of Iturbide. Most 
of the honors and emoluments of government were given to 
Europeans, and what was first deemed a system of outrage, 
was resolved into a system of settled injustice. It was the 
reign of royalty and ignorance, of selfishness and wrong. 

In this condition of things, was it strange that the first revo- 
lutionists of Mexico should prove to be robbers and murderers, 
and that the first efforts of the masses of the people to act for 
themselves should develop ignorance, intrigues, corruption, 
criminal frauds, debasing servility, indecision, imbecility, and 
all that variety of causes which end in anarchy ! * In the adop- 

* The first abortive effort, which, was commenced in 1809, by 
Hidalgo and AUende, had not for its object the establishment of a 
republic or of free institutions; if, indeed, fi-ee institutions can exist 
under any other form of government. That movement had its origin 
in feelings of enthusiastic and devoted loyalty, which, up to that 
time, was the ruling passion in the heart of every Spaniard. The 
abdication of the legitimate monarch of Spain, the atrocious perfidy 
by which it was obtained, and the transference of the sovereignty of 
the country to the emperor of France, which country had for cen- 
turies been regarded as the hereditary enemy of Spain, were the true 
causes of the insurrection in Mexico in 1809. It was begun under 



MODERN MEXICO. 49 

tion and execution of the " plan of Iguala " * and treaty of 
Cordova, all these fearful developments were made. 

An ignorant race is jealous, cowardly, and cruel. It can 
neither protect the interests of" others or conceive of its own. 
There is nothing in nature more terrific than the rising of an 
ignorant people, who have been chained down by an unrighteous 
power. All desire comfort and consideration, and most fail 
in their wishes, because they have no faith in integrity. Their 
experience has taught them a most bitter selfishness, and it is 
the work of time alone that can convey to their benighted 
minds even the ordinary knowledge of what is due to them- 
selves and to others. 

By the third article of the plan of Iguala, all distinction of 
castes was abolished, so that all individuals, whether Spaniards, 
Americans, Indians, or Africans, were placed on equal footing. 
At this time, the republican form of government was proposed 
and urged by several members of the Junta, but the proposition 
was successfully opposed by Iturbide and others. The views 
of Iturbide were expressed with an honest manliness highly 
creditable to him. " Nature," said he, " produces nothing by 
sudden leaps ; she operates by intermediate degrees. The 
moral world follows the laws of the physical. To think that 
we could emerge all at once from a state of debasement such 
as that of slavery, and from a state of ignorance such as has 
been inflicted on us for three hundred years, during which we 
had neither books nor instructors, and the possession of knowl- 
edge had been thought a sufficient cause for persecution ; to 
think that we could gain information and refinement in a 
moment, as if by enchantment ; that we could acquire every 
virtue, forget prejudices, and give up false pretensions, was a 
vain expectation, and could only have entered into the visions 
of an enthusiast." 

In 1822, Iturbide was declared emperor by the people ; but 



the auspices of the Spanish, viceroy, and had for its object, real as 
well as professed, the saving of that portion of his dominions for 
Ferdinand VII. — Thompson's Recollections of Mexico. 
* See Appendix E. 
5 



50 MODERN MEXICO. 

before the new government could be fully organized, he was 
deposed by factionists and banished.* In 1824, Mexico 
became a republic, and a federal constitution was adopted. 
General Victoria was elected the first president, and he has 
been succeeded by such men as Pedraza, Guerrero, Busta- 
mente, Santa Anna, Herrera, and Paredes, as presidents or 
dictfitors, at best, with scarcely an exception, rival military 
adventurers. Actuated by no higher motives than those of 
personal aggrandizement, they manifested no patriotism above 
party purposes, and but little conscience above self-interest. 
Having no hold upon the affections of the people, they relied 
upon no security except military rule, and this was made sub- 
ject to the greatest treachery, or to the greatest cunning. 

Without any settled principles of self-respect above egotism ; 
without independence not subject to an army ; f without honesty 
not subject to bribery and duplicity ; without knowledge not neu- 
tralized by superstition ; without religion not subject to vanity | 

* There are diversity of views with, respect to the character of 
Iturbide. We shall not attempt to reconcile them in this place. 
In speaking of the congress of this time, Mr. Thompson says, "No 
similai- body, under like circumstances, has evinced more virtue, 
firmness, and constancy, than did the congress of Mexico iir resist- 
ing the usurpation and tyranny of Iturbide, surrounded as he was by 
his pretorian band." 

t In his speech at Charleston, S. C, Mr. "Webster says, " Our 
neighbor, the unfortunate, miserably governed Mexico, when she 
emerged from her revolution, had in her history nothing of repre- 
sentative government, habeas corpus, or trial by jury ; no progressive 
experiment tending to a glorious consummation ; nothing but a gov- 
ernment calling itself free, with the least possible freedom in the 
world. She had collected, since her independence, 300,000,000 dol- 
lars, and had unprofitably expended it all in putting up one revolu- 
tion and putting down another, and in maintaining an army of 
40,000 men, in time of peace, to keep the peace." 

:|: The wife of General Canalizo died whilst he was president ad 
interim, duiring the absence of Santa Anna. She was embalmed, and 
had a pair of glass eyes inserted, and lay in state for several days, 
gorgeously dressed, and glittering in jewels. — Thompson's Recol. 



M 



REPUBLIC OF MEXICO. 51 

and a priesthood ; * without virtue not debased by Ucentious- 
ness ; without enterprise t not blasted by frivolous pride or 
indolence ; — the people of this country have claimed to be 
acknowledged as free and independent, and to be regarded as 
within the pale of civilization and Christianity. Without 
genius or moral power, they have failed to organize a govern- 
ment that is above their own condition. Their government 
has been true only to its origin. It has been proud without 
magnanimity, sensitive without lionor, extravagant without 
means, poor without prudence, cruel without courage, and bold 
without virtue. It has proved false to its sacred trusts ; it has 
impoverished the country, debased the people, connived at 
riot, robbery, and murder, | encouraged violence, engendered 
civil war, and sanctioned treason. It has legalized plunder in 
the acts of its citizens, and violated treaties in its intercourse 
with foreign nations. It has imprisoned the free citizens of 
other countries, robbed the unprotected traveller, § executed 
the innocent stranger, and assassinated the honest minister. 
We say that government has done all this, because such acts 
have been committed by the citizens of Mexico, and have been 
sustained in their wickedness. At no period, hardly, since that 

* There are in the city of ISIexico, alone, seven or eiglit hundred 
secular, and near two thousand regular clergy. 

t The enterprise of the Mexicans may be inferred from the fact, 
that they sent to Massachusetts for the gi'anite with which to build 
their custom-house at Vera Cruz, although they have stone equally 
good within ten miles of that city. 

X "It is monstrous," says Gilliam, -'when the great majority of 
the inhabitants of a country are swindlers, thieves, and murderers, 
in an unqvialified manner, as is the case in Mexico." 

§ "Understanding, as I now do," says Mr. Gilliam, "the duplicity 
of the Mexicans, and their policy, I should not bo surprised if some 
in power should have ]?:nown more of Mr. Shannon's robbery than 
might become them. But, as Santa Anna and his officers are the 
acknowledged heads of a band of pirates, it cannot be astonishing 
that he should tolerate such deeds." 

It will be remembered that Mr. Gushing, on his return from China 
through Mexico, was robbed. 



52 EErUELIC OF MEXICO. 

Republic has been in existence, have her prisons been without 
guihless tenants from our country, and at no period within the 
memory of man have life and property been safe within its 
boundaries.* Mexico has neglected education and all modern 
means of reform, and has failed to secure the honest citizen 
in his rights, and the industrious in the fruits of his labor.f 

There is no fiction in this melancholy recital ; our language 
is true to reality. On this point we have no occasion for cor- 
roborative evidence, as no one will doubt us. However much 
politicians have been willing to oppose the late war with Mex- 
ico, there are none, no, not one, who is prepared deliberately 
to speak well of that benighted country. They have not only 
been unwilling to testify to her integrity as a nation, but have 
actually disclaimed, in advance, all inferences that might be 
made from their remarks, which should seem to sanction her 
past practices. The delusion has been complete. Indeed, it 
has been cruel. She has been wrong in every thing except 
the war ; and in regard to that, right in every thing, except 
defeat ! Why should she be reminded of her en'ors, in her 
first attempts to do right ? Why should she be blinded by a 
false sympathy that increased her evils, and by a mock spirit 
of instigation to reject her best friends ? 

We are free to confess our wonder, that the Republic of 
Mexico has been preserved so long ; that its faithless and 

* See Appendix F. 

t For the amount of general intelligence, and the extent of the 
wealth and commercial intercourse of the middle classes, there is 
more licentiousness and vice than in any other country on the 
globe. The Catholic church has nowhere so corrupt a priesthood. 
It is the policy of this class, and the rich, to keep the lower orders 
in ignorance, in order that they may prostitute them to subserve 
their selfish and unworthy purposes. There are probably not 5000 
females, out of the population of 8,000,000, who can read and w^ite. 
— Gilliam's Travels in Mexico. Mr. Mayer says, in his interesting 
■work, "that in the year 1840, w^hile $180,000 w^ere spent for hospitals, 
fortresses, and prisons, and $8,000,000 for the army, (with no foreign 
war,) only $110,000 were given to all the institutions of learning in 
Mexico." 



PRIMARY CAUSES OF THE WAR. 53 

barbarous acts should have been permitted by civilized 
nations to ocOur so often and without redress ; that its people 
have been spared to live with so little nakedness and starva- 
tion. In no way can we account for this exemption from 
instant accountability, except it be in the indulgent and mis- 
guided forbearance of nations. Her weakness and position 
have been her protection. Her worst enemies have been 
within her own limits ; the great sources of her evils have been 
in her own rulers ; the greatest obstacles to her success have 
been in the ignorance of her own people. 

The period of her retribution had come. She had improved 
the seed-time of iniquity, and it remained that she should 
gather her own bitter harvests. Bound and fettered by political 
impostors, encamped and fortified within her vitals, and blinded 
by bigots that knew no grace but physical power, nothing 
'could save her but a foreign war. Not a war forced without 
cause, but produced by laws of violated nature — produced by 
her own misguided acts and negligence ; a war of literal justice. 
It was as likely to happen with one nation as with another, but 
most likely with one nearest her borders. 

The primary causes of the war with Mexico may be found 
in her past acts, which we have reviewed ; and the recent 
events which have been spoken of so often, are but the ultimate 
results, or the legitimate outbreaks of troubles which have been 
engendered by her government and people. 

What was true in regard to Great Britain, in 1812, has long 
been true in relation to Mexico. The relations between Great 
Britain and the United States, in 1812, were admirably summed 
up in a few words by President Madison, in a message to 
Congress. 

" We behold," says Mr. Madison, " in fine, on the side of 
Great Britain, a state of war against the United States ; and on 
the side of the United States, a state of peace towards Great 
Britain. Whether the United States shall continue passive 
under these progressive usurpations and these accumulating 
wrongs, or, opposing force to force in defence of their national 
5* 



54 JOHN qUINCY ADAMS. 

rights, shall commit our just cause into the hands of the Al- 
mighty Disposer of events, avoiding all connections which 
might entangle it in the contest or views of other powers, and 
preserving a constant readiness to concur in an honorable 
establishment of peace and friendship, is a solemn question, 
which the Constitution wisely confides to the legislative depart- 
ment of the government. In recommending it to their early 
deliberations, I am happy in the assurance that the decision 
will be worthy the enlightened and patriotic councils of a vir- 
tuous, a free, and a powerful nation." 

It is with no ordinary satisfaction that we find ourselves 
enabled to quote, as confirmatory of our method of investiga- 
tion, a passage from the writings of that eminent statesman, 
the late John Quincy Adams. It is taken from the lecture 
which he delivered on the war between Great Britain and China 
in 1842. 

" It is a general, but I believe altogether mistaken opinion," 
says Mr. Adams, " that the quarrel is merely for certain chests 
of opium imported by British merchants into China, and seized 
by the Chinese government for having been imported contrary 
to law. This is a mere incident to the dispute, but no more 
the cause of the war than the throw^ing overboard of the tea 
in the Boston harbor was the cause of the American revolution. 

" The cause of the war is the pretension, on the part of the 
Chinese, that, in all their intercourse with other nations, political 
or commercial, their superiority must be implicitly acknowl- 
edged, and manifested in humiliating forms. It is not credit- 
able to the great, powerful, and enlightened nations of Europe, 
that for several centuries they have, for the sake of profitable 
ti'ade, submitted to this insolent and insulting pretension, 
equally contraiy to the first principles of the law of nature 
and of revealed religion — the natural equality of mankind — 

* Auri sacra fames, 
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis ! ' " 



ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR 55 



INDEPENDENCE AND SUBSEQUENT ANNEXATION OF 

TEXAS. 

ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR. 

z\mong the results, which have been discussed as- causes, we 
find the Texas question, — the independence and subsequent 
annexation of Texas as a State of our Union. 

This has become simple histoiy. Parties are at issue with 
respect to some facts, which are not very important, even if 
determined, in aiding us to decide the general merits of the 
case. The opponents of annexation have thought proper to 
assail the motives of the friends of that measure, and, upon 
the assumption that their views were correct, have manifested 
a singular prejudice and hostility to every proposition and 
event which have grown out of it. It is not our business to 
question their motives or their integrity, but to consider the 
whole subject independently of them. These were national 
measures, and as such we propose to consider them. The 
motives of those who originated and matured them make no 
part of the subject. A good measure may be proposed with 
bad motives, or motives that we cannot approve ; and bad laws 
may be proposed and enacted springing from the best of mo- 
tives. Besides, all men do not judge accurately of results. 
National measures for specific interests are sometimes proposed 
with limited views, and for the attainment of objects not to be 
justified, but which, on examination, are found to possess other 
features highly favorable to other good purposes not contem- 
plated by the original mover. Indeed, they may prove fatal 
to his intentions. He may have failed to study his own com- 
bination of causes, and he lives to be disappointed in the results 
of his own acts. Let it be so. Causes are certain, men un- 
certain. We discuss measures to be determined, according to 
our best knowledge and convictions of duty ; but when called 
upon to consider the events of the past, we desire to take them 
as we find them, approving what we can, condemning what we 



56 ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR. 

must. We can only judge of our own motives, conceding to 
others the same prerogative. 

As late as in 1821, Mexico was subject to the crown of 
Spain ; but, for reasons deemed sufficient by her people, she 
asserted her own independence. Her revolution was success- 
ful, and her independence was acknowledged by the United 
States, January 23, 1823, and soon after by other leading gov- 
ernments of Europe. In 1824, she adopted a federal consti- 
tution. We have already reviewed her history, and have seen 
what has been the measure of her success. In 1834, " Santa 
Anna, at the head of the military power, overthrew the con- 
stitution of 1824, abolished the state governments, and estab- 
lished one of the most tyrannical and absolute governments 
that ever existed." * In 1835, the State of Texas protested 
against the usurpation of Santa Anna, and insisted upon their 
rights, as guarantied by the federal constitution of 1824. The 
objects of that constitution were similar to those of the Con- 
stitution of the United States, — " to form a more perfect union, 
establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide for the 
common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the 
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." 

These objects were sacred, and the government of Mexico 
was bound to be faithful to the conditions imposed by the trust. 
If it failed in the accomplishment of any one of them, there 
would be just cause for complaint on the part of the people, 
and their submission to such failure would make no part of 
duty. If the government failed in all the objects of the union, 
as set forth, it would be regarded as a case of absolute weak- 
ness, criminal design, or neglect, and nothing but a total change 
of administration should satisfy a people that they were true to 
themselves or to their country. If it failed not only to accom- 
plish the objects for which it was organized, but usurped 
authority in gross violation of those objects, then its measures 
were acts of treason, and revolution became an imperative duty, 
not to be avoided without dishonor. 

* See Speech of General Rusk, Senator from Texas. 



ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR. 57 

This was the fact with Mexico, and Texas was the only State 
that had sufficient character to oppose successfully the infamous 
usurpation of Santa Anna. The protests of Texas were 
treated by the usurper as acts of rebellion, and her representa- 
tive was arrested, imprisoned, and was suffered to lie in a 
loathsome dun^^eon without a hearinfr. The constitutions of 
the States were destroyed ; States were declared to be mere 
departments ; they were deprived of all legislative authority ; 
their officers were arrested, and the governors were made sub- 
ject only to the central government, thereby becoming the 
willing instruments of tyranny. These acts of oppression 
were, followed by a decree requiring the States as well as 
individuals to surrender up all the arms they had in their pos- 
session. Not satisfied with these outrages, agents were sent 
by the tyrant to instigate the Indians, whose numbers were 
large, to exterminate with the scalping-knife and tomahawk a 
people who were hated because they were feared. 

Submission to such outrages, executed in the name of free- 
dom, can excite no sentiment but that of indignation in the 
breast of every friend of liberty ; while, on the other hand, 
we should not withhold our admiration for that small band of 
pioneers who had the courage to defend their rights against a 
nation that counted its millions of subjects. Becoming per- 
suaded that their lot would be one of hardship and oppression 
as connected with the general government, the Texans declared 
their independence on the 2d of March, 1835. 

The usurper marched his hireling troops to the soil of that 
brave people, conscious of superior strength, certain of victory, 
and impatient for the bloody work which should remove all sub- 
jects unwilling to be slaves. The successes of his army were 
crowned with infamy,* and the battle of his own controlling 
with defeat. 

On the 21st of April, a large portion of his army, under his 

* We need only mention the base betrayal of Zacatecas, and the 
cold-blooded and treacherous massacre of Colonel Fanning, and his 
force of four hundred men. 



58 ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR. 

own command, met the Texans, under General Houston, on the 
plains of San Jacinto. An engagement took place, and half 
of his troops were slain, and the other half were taken prison- 
ers of war, including the tyrant himself. Apparently hum- 
bled, the dictator sued for terms of peace, and after some 
hesitation on the part of the Texans, a treaty was made and 
executed.* Rights were defined, and boundaries stated. The 
independence of Texas was to be acknowledged by Mexico, 
and the parties to the instrument on the part of Mexico pledged 
themselves faithfully to use their influence in procuring a rati- 
fication of its stipulations by their own government. 

From this moment Texas was free and independent. 'She 
was left by Mexico in undisturbed repose, though the treaty of 
Santa Anna was basely disregarded by the Mexicans who exe- 
cuted it, and was denounced and disavowed by their govern- 
ment. In 1837, the independence of Texas was acknowledged 
by the United States, and in quick succession by the great 
powers of Europe. 

Here was one of the results of the folly, weakness, neglect, 
and wickedness of Mexico. She lost some of her best citizens, 
and a large portion of her richest soil. It was a result that all 
good men must rejoice in, for, whether we consider most the 
gain to Texas, to the United States, or to the cause of freedom, 
we cannot but regard the independence of this State, and subse- 
quent annexation, as events of justice to Mexico, and one of 
instruction to the age. 

Here was a sovereign power in a country that was ceded by 
our government to Spain in 1820, in violation of our treaty 
stipulations with France in 1803, and much against the views 
of many of our people. f Texas became her own sovereign 
master, and was free to choose her own destiny. 

* See Appendix G. 

t We insert, with much confidence, in our Appendix some extracts 
from a letter of the Hon. E,. J. Walker, addressed, in 1844, to the 
people of Kentucky, " relative to the re-annexation of Texas," &c. 
This letter embraces a large amount of information, and is written 
with great ability. See Appendix H. 



IMPORTANCE OF TEXAS. 59 

Actuated by no unworthy motives of ambition, her defend- 
ers became devoted to her true interests, and proved faithful as 
citizens and rulers. They had no objects in government but 
security in their rights and interests, and it soon became a seri- 
ous question how these might best be preserved and advanced. 
Having the elements of prosperity within her limits, her pop- 
ulation increased, the riches of her soil were made mani- 
fest, and soon the young Republic became the subject of notice 
and favor of foreign and rival nations. Annexation to the 
United States w^as proposed, as being preferable to national 
sovereignty with national weakness — a measure of adding a 
lesser power to receive a greater. It was a measure of duty 
and interest to them, and one of national concern and impor- 
tance to the Union. 

In regard to the importance of Texas to the United States, 
much has been said by distinguished citizens of all parties. It 
is not a recent question, and not until lately has it been made 
a party question. Indeed, its importance has been so fully 
acknowledged by statesmen entitled to our confidence and 
respect, irrespective of party, that any enlargement here upon 
the subject might be deemed by some an act of supererogation.* 
It is now one of the States of the Union ; and while we cannot 
speak from personal observation of the value or beauty of its 
territory, we may be permitted to quote the language of the 
Hon. W. S. Archer, of Virginia, chairman of the committee 
of foreign relations in the House of Representatives in 1822. 
At that time he delivered a speech on the subject of appointing 
a minister to Mexico, from which we make the following ex- 
tract. He pronounced the territory " one of the richest and 
most favored portions of the habitable earth. I say this delib- 
erately, for if I were called upon to select any portion of the 
earth's surface which was fitted by nature to become the gar- 
den spot of the globe, I should without hesitation point to the 
province of Texas." This was not an expression of party sen- 

* See Appendix H. 



60 ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAK. 

timent, as no party lines, at the period of its utterance, had been 
drawn hi reference to its possession. All desired it, but it was 
in a position to be acquired only by purchase of a foreign nation. 

That Mexico should, in the chagrin and folly of her course, 
endeavor to force the allegiance of Texas, was a circumstance to 
be anticipated. Where injustice makes up the policy of a nation, 
desperation ever finds an apologist in pride, and patriotism a 
virtue in necessity. Her pretensions of right to govern Texas, 
when she had proved herself utterly incapable of protecting the 
ordinary interests even of a single city of her dominion, are ab- 
solutely too ridiculous to merit serious refutation. If Texas 
were not entitled to independence after the events of her rev- 
olution, then no people can ever hope to be fully justified in 
opposing tyranny, or in any attempts to establish justice and 
equality among men. 

And yet, while we would not impute to Mexico utter igno- 
rance of her own demerits, we cannot but think that she has 
been encouraged in her downward course in consequence of 
opinions expressed by public men of the United States. If she 
would not hesitate knowingly to persist in wrong, we may well 
suppose that she would eagerly seize all flattering or promising 
influences that seemed to favor her desperate and ill-featured 
cause. 

A distinguished citizen of Kentucky,* in a letter written in 
1844, says, " I consider the annexation of Texas at this time, 
without the assent of Mexico, compromising the national char- 
acter, and involving us certainly in a war with Mexico, and 
probably with other foreign powers." f 

Mr. Clay was a candidate for the presidency, and more than 

* Hon. Henry Clay. 

t And yet, in 1847, in a speech delivered at Lexington, he asks, 
" Who would now think of perpetrating the folly of casting Texas out 
of the confederacy, and throwing her back upon her independence, 
or into the arms of Mexico r Vfh.o would seek to divorce her from 
this Union ? " And why not ? If annexation were an act of injustice 
to Mexico, it could not be *' folly " to repair the -wrong. 



ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR. 61 

any other man, perhaps, the chief of a powerful party. A 
single word from his lips or pen would afford such a nation as 
that of Mexico encouragement in the greatest folly,, in the most 
hopeless cause. We would not speak lightly of a man who 
has filled with honor so many pages of his country's history ; 
but while we admit his merits, and the correctness of some of 
his views on questions of public importance, we cannot but 
regret that want of consistency which charity would attribute 
to his paity prepossessions rather than to his judgment. 

Mr. Clay has not been alone in the expression of views tend- 
ing to encourage Mexico. Some of our State governments 
adopted resolutions ; public men and editors expressed opinions 
for party purposes, defending the cause of Mexico against their 
own country. It has been asserted that Santa Anna prepared 
a document made up of speeches and editorials put forth in this 
country concerning the war, /or circulation among Ms soldiers 
and people.* It is easy to see how the doubts of a powerful 
enemy would have more influence in Mexico, than any knowl- 
edge of strength, where weakness prevailed, or of any confi- 
dence of success, in the absence of means and system. 

It is a plain, open case. The facts are before us. Specula- 
tion is unnecessary. A knowledge of common justice and 
national law gives us no alternative but to read the evidence, 
and see the legitimate conclusion. 

In a speech delivered in the U. S. Senate, March, 1848, by 
Mr. Webster, we find the following paragraph, in the emphatic 
language of that distinguished senator : — 

" I state now, sir, what I have often stated before — that no 
man, from the first, has been a more sincere well wisher to the 
government and people of Texas than myself. I looked upon 
the achievement of their independence in the battle of San 
Jacinto as an extraordinary, almost marvellous, incident in the 

* See speech of Colonel Burnet, delivered at Philadelphia ; of 
Colonel Doniphan, at St. Louis ; and the statements of Wynkoop» 
and Morgan, and of other officers, published in the journals. 

6 



62 ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR. 

affairs of mankind. I was among the first disposed to acknowl- 
edge her independence." 

In 1842, Mr. Webster, then secretary of state, in a despatch 
to the minister of the United States at Mexico, said, " From 
the time of the battle of San Jacinto, in April, 1836, to the 
present moment, Texas has exhibited the same external signs 
of national independence as Mexico herself, and with quite as 
much stability of government. Practically free and inde- 
pendent ; acknowledged as a political sovereignty by the 
principal powers of the world ; no hostile foot finding rest 
within her territory for six or seven years ; and Mexico her- 
self refraining for all that period from any further attempt to 
reestablish her own authority over the territoiy." 

In a speech delivered by the Hon. R. Johnson, of Maryland, 
in the U. S. Senate, on the 10th and 11th January, 1848, he 
says, " Sir, annexation of itself would not have been war ; 
Mexico had no right to make it a cause of war. Texas' inde- 
pendence had been too long established and undisturbed to 
have her absolute right of sovereignty called in question." 

Texas became independent of Mexico in the same manner 
that our States became independent of Great Britain ; and if 
her title among nations was not good, then there is no reason 
why ours should be. This being admitted, the event of annex- 
ation was not a matter within the control of Mexico, much less 
could it be cause for war. That it was no cause of war in the 
opinion of Mexico herself, may be inferred from the fact, that 
she offered to acknowledge the independence of Texas, pro- 
vided she would reject all propositions of annexation to the 
United States ; or, in other words, if she would not add to the 
power of a country already too great to be balanced in the 
scales of European politicians.* 

The short sentence of Mr. Clay, in 1844, was just enough 
to be dangerous to Mexico, and troublesome to foreign poli- 



* See the able speech of the Hon. J. A. Dix, delivered in the 
U. S. Senate, Jan. 1848. 



ANNEXATION NO CAUSE OF WAR. 63 

ticians. It justified war on her part, and expectation of aid 
from foreign governments. It led to destruction without any- 
responsible guaranty of aid or safety. It was a text for a 
Guizot or a Palmerston. Its apocryphal character was not 
suspected. It was proved, however, by experiment. Mexico 
was compelled to act without the poor benefit of her own 
cowardice, and to find, in the end, nothing but contempt 
and derision where she was persuaded to look for aid and 
sympathy. 

Texas was annexed by act of Congress on the part of the 
United States, and by Congress and by a convention of the 
people on the part of Texas.* The authority under which the 
act of Congress was passed on the part of the United States, 
is in the Constitution. The language is simple, and cannot be 
misunderstood. It is this : " New States may be admitted 
by Congress into this Union ; but no new State shall be formed 
by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, with- 
out the consent of the legislatures of the States concerned, as 
well as of the Congress." 

That the act of annexation was in conformity to the Consti- 
tution of the United States, is obvious from the facts in the 
case. The fact that Texas was an independent nation makes 
no element of the question whatever, inasmuch as she was 
divested of national prerogatives, before she was admitted as a 
State of the Union. 

There is another alleged cause of the war, in the act of the 
war department of the United States, ordering General Tay- 
lor to the Rio Grande. 

This was a prudential measure, on the part of our govern- 
ment, to prevent hostilities by being prepared for them, and 
properly makes a portion of our next chapter. It is simply a 
historical question as to the first act of hostility between the 
two nations in the commencement of a war, but in no sense can 
it be regarded as the cause. If it were the cause of the war, 
to what cause are we to attribute the assembling of two armies 

* See Appendix. I. 



64 POSITIOxN AND RELATIONS OF MEXICO. 

in hostile proximity, and both stationed at a great distance from 
their respective governments ? So far from being the cause, 
or even a cause of the war, it is not to be classed with the 
measure of annexation as one of the results of the causes which 
we have enumerated. It was purely a preventive measure on 
the part of our government, and only as such intended and 
authorized. 

COMPARATIVE VIEW OF THE ACTS OF THE TWO 
GOVERNMENTS. 

ASSUMED POSITION AND NATIONAL RELATIONS OF MEXICO. 

Although the loss of Texas was a consequence of the bad 
faith of Mexico, still Mexico was induced to assume that 
annexation was sufficient cause of war. What combination 
of influences led that nation to take such a position is still a 
matter of some uncertainty. It is true, desperation is frequent- 
ly indicative of weakness, and boldness or rashness is made to 
represent power. But acts of rashness may be generally traced 
to ulterior motives, to some contingent redemption or aid that 
may be possible, or probable, though not certain. A bold 
position in a nation which is wrong may cost nothing, and a com- 
promise between right and extravagant claim may sometimes 
render it a source of gain. That Mexico was really ignorant 
of her own character, we cannot believe. That she was not 
fully aware of her own weakness, all must admit. That the 
embarrassments and confusion of her own affairs led her rulers 
to suppose that nothing could happen to add new misery to her 
condition, is more than probable. She supposed her chance for 
charity among nations about equal to that of justice. She 
was honored with marks of sympathy, but she was deceived by 
supposing they would be redeemed by acts of aid. 

In what proportion, therefore, the various influences made 
up her inducements to action, it is difficult to determine. Per- 
haps it is unnecessary. It is probable, however, that her very 
existence required action, and in her pride and weakness she 



RELATIONS OF UNITED STATES AND TEXAS. 65 

was led to indulge in a vague belief that her manifestations of 
nationality .would be taken for strength and patriotism, and 
thus enlist foreign intervention. At that time, the relations 
between the United States and Great Britain were unsettled. 
The Oregon question was the great source of excitement. 
Negotiation was of doubtful issue, and war was predicted. 
Foreign powers had acknowledged the independence of Texas, 
and her favor was courted both by England and France. If 
we had war with England, Mexico could follow with some 
degree of safety in her wake of destruction. Her weakness 
might be covered by England's strength, and English subjects 
had solid interests to urge them to such a union. France 
desired to help Mexico, that she might be able at some future 
day to help herself, and she opposed the dissolution of the 
sovereignty of Texas because it would add too much to the 
power of the United States. 

Thus were nations at work as elements in determining the 
affairs of Mexico, as involved with those of Texas. Mexico 
was one of five independent powers, and she was willing to 
be the fifth in order of influence, and be subject to the con- 
tingent relations of the other four ; and to take her chance as 
to the result. She was made blind to her own resources by 
expectations as baseless as they proved to be fatal. But, before 
v/e compare the acts of the United States and Mexico, let us 
glance at the 

RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND TEXAS. 

That the government of the United States has been actuated 
by considerations of strict justice and liberality to Mexico, 
and of integrity to its own great interests, will appear from 
the simple facts embraced in official documents. We shall 
endeavor so to classify them as to give the reader a just and 
connected view of the evidence which they contain. 

The acts of governments, as well as those of individuals, are 
determined by motives. We can conceive of no other mode 
of action, however manifested or combined. In judging, 
6* 



66 KELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES AND TEXAS. 

therefore, either of collective or of individual action by a few 
leading facts, we must, in justice, remember the influences of 
the thousand little things which indeed make up the atmos- 
phere of the motive world, and oftentimes characterize it, 
though they cannot be enumerated. We can hope to do but 
little in representing the motives of either government by se- 
lecting a few declarations, though we may aid the reader by 
our outlines in giving direction to further investigation. 

The United States and Texas must be regarded as two 
sovereign nations engaged in a negotiation mutually impor- 
tant, and really in no way threatening the peace or involving 
the interest of any other nation. The special interest of 
Mexico in Texas was forfeited nine years before, and that 
forfeiture was recognized, and the consequent independence 
acknowledged, by the leading powers of Europe. Notwith- 
standing this, Mexico assumed the hostile attitude in regard to 
both in the contingency that they agreed. The contingency 
of agreement took place, and we commence our documentary 
account of events which preceded it, and which are necessary 
to a proper understanding of what followed. 

It must be borne in mind that Mexico takes a forced posi- 
tion. Any other nation, according to the laws of nations, had 
the same right as Mexico to protest against annexation, and 
to threaten war. While the United States proposed to take 
nothing from Mexico that belonged to her, their government 
was bound to be faithful in all its engao-ements with Texas. 

In literally dissolving her nationality, Texas claimed from 
the United States that protection which was necessary in view 
of successful negotiation, provided she was invaded by Mexico. 
While she was preparing to assume a subordinate position, in a 
national point of view, as one of the States of this Union, she 
was discontinuing those means of defence which would be no 
longer required. In reply to her government on this point, 
the United States gave 



ASSURANCE OF PROTECTION TO TEXAS. 67 



ASSURANCE OF PROTECTION TO TEXAS. 

Mr. Buchanan, Secretary of State, to Mr. Donelson, Chargi d' Affaires 
of the U. S., in Texas, May 23, 1845. 

" I am instructed by the president to inform you that, as 
soon as the existing government and the convention of Texas 
shall have accepted the terms proposed in the two first sections 
of the 'joint resolution for annexing Texas to the United 
States,' he will then conceive it to be both his right and duty 
to employ the army in defending that state against the attacks 
of any foreign power. This shall be done promptly and 
efficiently, should any emergency render it necessary. In 
order to be prepared for such a contingency, a force of three 
thousand men shall immediately be placed upon the border, 
prepared to enter Texas and to act without a moment's delay. 
It would be the most crying injustice towards the people of 
Texas, for the United States to stand by and refuse to extend 
a helping hand to sustain them against an invasion brought 
upon them by their free determination to annex their own 
glorious Republic to the American Union, in compliance with a 
solemn resolution of Congress." 

In conformity with this obligation, orders were given to our 
army and navy. As these orders were among the first acts of 
the United States, in granting a military defence to Texas, 
we give them nearly entire. 

Mr. Marcy, Secretary of War, to General Z. Taylor, at Fort Jesup, La. 

'« War Department, May 28, 1845. 
" I am directed by the president to cause the forces now 
under your command, and those which may be assigned to it, 
to be put into a position where they may most promptly and 
efficiently act in defence of Texas, in the event it shall 
become necessary or proper to employ them for that purpose. 
The information received by the executive of the United 
States warrants the belief that Texas will shortly accede to 



68 OUR TROOPS TO OCCUPY THE RIO GRANDE DEL NORTE. 

the terms of annexation. As soon as the Texan Congress 
shall have given its consent to annexation, and a convention 
shall assemble and accept the terms offered in the resolutions 
of Congress, Texas will then be regarded by the executive 
government so far a part of the United States as to be entided 
from this government to defence and protection from foreign 
invasion and Indian incursions. The troops under your com- 
mand will be placed and kept in readiness to perform this duty. 
" Should the territories of Texas be invaded by a foreign 
power, and you sliall receive certain intelligence through her 
functionaries of that fact, after her convention shall have 
acceded to the terms of annexation contained in the resolu- 
tions of the Congress of the United States, you will at once 
employ, in the most effective manner your judgment may 
dictate, the forces under your command, for the defence of 
these territories, and to expel the invaders." 

THE RIO GRANDE DEL NORTE TO BE OCCUPIED BY OUR 
TROOPS. 

George Bancroft, acting Secretary of War, to General Taylor. 

" "War Department, Jxme 15, 1845. 

" On the 4th day of July next, or very soon thereafter, the 
convention of the people of Texas will probably accept the 
proposition of annexation, under the joint resolutions of the 
late Congress of the United States. That acceptance will 
constitute Texas an integral portion of our country. 

" In anticipation of that event, you will forthwith make a 
forward movement of the troops under your command, and 
advance to the mouth of the Sabine, or to such other point on 
the Gulf of Mexico, or its navigable waters, as in your judg- 
ment may be most convenient for embarkation at the proper 
time for the western frontier of Texas. 

"The point of your ultimate destination is the western 
frontier of Texas, where you will select and occupy, on or 
near the Rio Grande del Norte, such a site as will consist 



U. S. NAVY COOPERATES IN THE DEFENCE OF TEXAS. 69 

with the health of the troops, and will be best adapted to repel 
invasion, and to protect what, in the event of annexation, will 
be our western border. You will limit youself to the defence 
of the territory of Texas, unless Mexico should declare war 
against the United States. 

" Your movement to the Gulf of Mexico, and your prepara- 
tions to embark for the western frontier of Texas, are to be 
made without any delay ; but you will not effect a landing on 
that frontier until you have yourself ascertained the due 
acceptance of Texas of the proffered terms of annexation, or 
until you receive directions from Mr. Donelson." 



U. S. SQUADRON ORDERED TO COOPERATE 11^ THE DEFENCE 
OF TEXAS. 

M7'. Donelson to Captain Stockto?i, U. S. Navy, Commander U. S. 
Squadron, near Galveston. 

" Legatiox of the U. S., ) 

"Washington, Texas, Jmie 22, 1845. 5 

" Captain Waggaman arrived here last evening with de- 
spatches to the president of this Republic and myself, from 
General Taylor, who has been ordered, in case Texas is in- 
vaded by Mexico, to render the protection asked for by this 
government. Although these troops will be, as usual, under 
the command of the regular officers of the United States, they 
are yet not to act within the limits of Texas without consulta- 
tion with this government. 

"It is highly important, therefore, that your squadron should, 
in like manner, so act as not to alter the general character of 
the defence which the United States will interpose for Texas. 
The whole measure of annexation being dependent upon the 
consent of this government, the employment of our forces 
within the limits of Texas must be, of course, subordinate to 
the necessity which will exist for it. 

" I have no idea that you would otherwise employ the 
squadron under your command ; but, for greater caution, and 
to have certain evidence in our possession that the action of 



70 TERMS OF ANNEXATION ACCEPTED BY TEXAS. 

our force within the hmits of Texas will be strictly defensive, 
I have thought it right to make these observations. 

" It is almost certain that our troops now on the border 
will be, in a few days, on the march to such stations as may 
be selected for them within the territory of Texas. Corpus 
Christi, San Antonio, and one other station farther north, will 
probably be selected. 

" The prospect of a Mexican war is so immediate as to 
justify yoiu* remaining on the lookout for the event. It is 
openly threatened by Mexico, and the British minister has left 
behind him a general impression that it will take place. If it 
does, your cooperation with our land troops I should think 
sufficient, without much aid from Texas herself, to drive the 
Mexican arms west of the Rio Grande. It is to be hoped, 
however, that Mexico, seeing the determination of the United 
States to maintain by force the right of Texas to annex her- 
self to our Union, will yet prefer to settle, by treaty, the 
points in dispute." 

TERMS OF ANNEXATION ACCEPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT 

AND PEOPLE OF TEXAS. 

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, June 23, 1845. 

" You will receive herewith enclosed the joint resolution 
and the letter of the secretary of state transmitting it, giving 
the consent of this government to the proposals for the 
admission of Texas as a State of the Federal Union. The 
vote upon it was unanimous.'^'' 

The measure remained to be acted upon by the people of 
Texas. They were notified by a proclamation of President 
Jones, on the 4th of June, 1845, to choose delegates to meet at 
the chy of Austin on the 4th of July following. The result in 
convention is stated in despatch, dated July 6, 1845, from 

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan. 
" There was but one dissenting voice to the acceptance of 
our proposals by the convention, and that one afterwards affixed 



THE CHOICE OF THE TEXANS. 71 

his signature to the resolution adopted on the subject ; so that 
the ordinance now forwarded to you has the unanimous support 
of all the deputies. Thus are dissipated all the schemes of 
foreign powers to raise a party in Texas adverse to annexation ; 
and thus has this gallant State vindicated her appreciation of 
the principles of liberty, and of the necessity of union with us 
in order to preserve those principles." 

GENERAL TAYLOR ADVISED OF ANNEXATION. 

On the 28th of June, Mr. Donelson advised General Taylor 
that the terms of annexation had been unanimously accepted 
by the government of Texas ; and, on the 7th of July, that the 
convention of the people had unanimously approved the same ; 
" and that, therefore, the contingency has occurred on which 
the president of the United States placed the right and duty 
of defending this territory against the attacks of Mexicans and 
Indians." On the 23d of August, the secretary of war says to 
General Taylor, " Orders have been issued to the naval force 
on the Gulf of Mexico to cooperate with you." In the same 
despatch, the secretary of war authorizes General Taylor to 
call upon the governors of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, 
Tennessee, and Kentucky, for volunteers, '' should Mexico 
declare war, or commence hostilities by crossing the Rio 
Grande with a considerable force." 

• THE CHOICE OF THE TEXANS. 

Ebenezer Allen, Attorney- General of Texas and acting Secretanj of State, 
to Mr. Donelson, June 23, 1845. 

" Rejecting the idea of separate nationality, although com- 
mended to their choice by the proffered recognition of their 
independence by Mexico, and the countenance of powerful 
European sovereignties, the people of this country have thus 
evinced, by most decided manifestations, their strong but 
natural preference for the advantages of a voluntary incorpora- 
tion into the American Union, and their strong attachment to 
the free institutions of that great and glorious Republic." 



72 FREE ACTION OF THE TEXANS. 



FREE ACTION OF THE TEXANS. ANNEXATION A BLOODLESS 
ACHIEVEMENT. 

It is the language of truth and sincerity, however much it 
may be doubted by partisans, which we find in the message 
of President Polk to Congress, December, 1845. 

" This accession to our territory has been a bloodless 
achievement. No arm of force has been raised to produce the 
result. The sword has had no part in the victory. We have 
not sought to extend our territorial possessions by conquest, or 
our republican institutions over a reluctant people. It was a 
deliberate homage of each people to the great principle of our 
federative Union. 

" If we consider the extent of territory involved in the 
annexation, its prospective influence on America, the means 
by which it has been accomplished, springing purely from the 
choice of the people themselves to share the blessings of our 
Union, the history of the world may be challenged to furnish a 
parallel." 

The president had acted openly and independently in this 
negotiation, and he had every reason to congratulate the coun- 
try on the result. We shall more justly appreciate his senti- 
ments if we refer to his letter of instructions, in which the 
manner of negotiation is advised, in a despatch from 

Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Donelson. 

" The president entirely concurs in opinion with you, that 
the United States should avoid even the least appearance of 
interference with the free action of the people of Texas on the 
question of annexation. This is necessary to give its full 
effect to one of the grandest moral spectacles which has ever 
been presented to mankind, and to convince the world that we 
would not, if we could, influence their decision except by fair 
argument. W^e desire that our conduct shall be in perfect 
contrast to that pursued by the British charge d'affaires to Texas 
in reference to the question." 



FOREIGN INTERFERENCE. 73 



FOREIGN INTERFERENCE. rROMPT ACTION NECESSARY. RESULT. 

Great efforts were made by the representatives of France 
and England to prevent annexation, and even Mexico herself 
was induced to assent to propositions of peace, provided Texas 
would remain independent.* 

Preliminary propositions were formally made and sent from 
Mexico, in May, by Baron AUeye De Cyprey, and Charles 
Bankhead, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary 
of his majesty the king of the French, and minister plenipo- 
tentiary of her Britannic majesty, sanctioned by the Mexican 
government. They were presented by Mr. Elliott, her Britan- 
nic majesty's charge d'affaires in Texas. These were duly 
submitted by President Jones to the Congress of Texas, with 
all due respect to the motives of those who framed them. The 
proposed treaty was unanimously rejected by the Congress of 
Texas on the same day that the resolutions of annexation were 
unanimously accepted. 

These efforts will enable us to understand an anxiety mani- 
fested on the part of our government to have the business 
promptly closed. It must be gratifying to all lovers of their 
country that the promptitude of our government was not marked 
by any departure from the fundamental principles of sound 
diplomacy, justice, and humanity. It is well remarked, and, 
doubtless, with a just sense of pride, by the president in his 
message of December, 1845, that, 

" In contemplating the grandeur of this event, it is not to be 
forgotten that the result was achieved in despite of the diplo- 
matic interference of European monarchies. Even France, 
the country which had been our ancient ally ; the country 
which has a common interest with us in maintaining the free- 
dom of the seas ; the country which, by the cession of Louisiana, 
first opened to us access to the Gulf of Mexico ; the countiy 
with which we have been every year drawing more and more 

* See Appendix J. 



74 POSITION OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS. 

closely the bonds of successful commerce, most unexpectedly, 
and to our unfeigned regret, took part in an effort to prevent 
annexation, and to impose on Texas, as a condition of the 
recognition of her independence by Mexico, that she would 
never join herself to the United States. We may rejoice that 
the tranquil and pervading influence of the American principle 
of self-government was sufficient to defeat the purposes of 
British and French interference, and that the almost unanimous 
voice of the people of Texas has given to that interference a 
peaceful and effective rebuke. From this example, European 
governments may learn how vain diplomatic arts and intrigues 
must ever prove, upon this continent, against that system of 
self-government which seems natural to our soil, and which 
will ever resist foreign interference." 

POSITIONS OF THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE UNITED STATES AND 
MEXICO AFTER ANNEXATION. 

The resolution authorizing the annexation of Texas was 
passed by the Congress of the United States, on the 28th of 
February, 1845, and v^^as approved by the president on the 1st 
of March.* 

On the 6th day of March following, the Mexican minister at 
Washington, General Almonte, in the name of his government, 
addressed to the state department " a Protest, in the most 
solemn manner, against the law whereby the province of Texas, 
an integrant portion of the Mexican territory, is agreed and 
admitted into the American Union ; that the said law can in no 
wise invalidate the rights on which Mexico relies to recover the 
above-mentioned province of Texas, of which she now sees 
herself unjustly despoiled ; and that she will maintain and 
uphold those rights at all times, by every means which may be 
in her power." 

He " will say in conclusion, to the honorable secretary of state 
of the United States, in order that he may be pleased to com- 

* See Appendix I. 



POSITION OF THE TWO GOVERNMENTS. 75 

municate it to the president of these States, that in consequence 
of this law,' against which he has just protested, his mission 
near this government has ceased from this day. Wherefore, the 
undersigned prays the honorable secretary of state to be pleased 
to deliver him his passports, as he has made arrangements 
to leave this city, [Washington,] without delay, for New 
York." 

This was the first position of Mexico after annexation. It 
was one of complaint and protest. 

The secretary of state, on the 10th day of March, 1845, 
advised General Almonte, that he had submitted his protest 
made in the name of his government, to the president, and he 
was instructed, in answer, to say, " that the admission of Texas 
as one of the States of this Union, having received the sanction, 
both of the legislative and executive departments of the gov- 
ernment, is now irrevocably decided, so far as the United 
States are concerned. Nothing but the refusal of Texas to 
ratify the terms and conditions on which her admission 
depends, can defeat this object. It is, therefore, too late, at 
present, to re-open a discussion which has already been exhaust- 
ed, and again to prove that Texas has long since achieved her 
independence of Mexico, and now stands before the world, both 
dejure and de facto .^ as a sovereign and independent State amid 
the family of nations. Sustaining this character, and having 
manifested a strong desire to become one of the members of 
our confederacy, neither Mexico nor any other nation will 
have just cause of complaint against the United States for 
admitting her into this Union." 

This was the position of the United, States. It teas one of 
justification and defence. 

Having before us the two nations in their respective positions 
of complaint and defence, we propose to review their spirit of 
conciliation and of hostility, as manifested by their acts prior 
to the commencement of the war. We will first turn our 
attention to 



76 THE DISPOSITIONS OF MEXICO. 



THE DISPOSITIONS OF MEXICO, AS MANIFESTED TOWARDS THE 
UNITED STATES. 

Although it is not our design, in this connection, to notice 
events prior to March, 1845, it may be proper, perhaps, to 
advert to the assumed position of Mexico, in regard to annexa- 
tion, in 1843 and 1844. 

Under date of August 23, 1843, the Mexican minister of 
foreign relations, in the name of his government, addressed to 
our minister in Mexico, the following language : — * 

" The Mexican government will consider equivalent to a 
declaration of war against the Mexican Republic, the passage 
of an act for the incorporation of Texas with the territory of 
the United States, the certainty of the fact heing sufficient for 
the proclaraation of war^ leaving to the civilized world to 
determine with regard to the justice of the cause of the Mexi- 
can nation in a struggle which it has been so far from pro- 
voking." 

On the 12th of June, 1844, just two months after the signa- 
ture by Mr. Calhoun of the treaty for the annexation of Texas, 
Santa Anna, then the president of Mexico, announced to the 
government of the United States, " that Mexico was resolved 
again to undertake vigorously the campaign against Texas, for 
which she held in readiness a large army," and further ex- 
pressed the determination of Mexico upon the point, as fol- 
lows : — 

" That in no manner will she consent to dismember territo- 
ry ; rather will she carry the war to any extreme which may 
be necessary to sustain her rights ; and that as nations do not 
die,/!Ae right of reconquering that territory shall remain to our 
children and our grandchildren ; that this was the opinion of 
the government and of the Mexicans^ 

* See tlie able speech, of Hon. Mr. Downs, delivered in the U. S. 
Senate, January, 1848, — from which we have copied some details to 
1844. 



THE DISPOSITIONS OF MEXICO. 77 

This declaration was followed up by Santa Anna, by issuing, 
in the same month, (June, 1844,) a requisition for thirty thou- 
sand men, and $4,000,000, to " carry on the war against 
Texas." Generals Canalize and WoU were placed in com- 
mand of the force raised upon this requisition, and, having 
advanced to Mier, on the Texan frontier, Woll, at the head of 
his invading army, put forth a general order, under date of 
June 20, 1844, menacing " every individual within one 
league of the left bank of the Hio del Norte with the traitor's 
doom." 

Mr. Bocanegra, then the Mexican minister of foreign rela- 
tions, styled the act of Congress providing for annexation, in 
his circular letter to the various European ministers then 
resident in Mexico, under date of May 31, 1844, " a declara- 
tion of war between the two nations." 

In his message of December, 1845, the president of the 
United States says, — 

" On the 6th day of March last, the Mexican envoy extra- 
ordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States 
made a formal protest, &c. Our envoy extraordinary to Mex- 
ico was refused all official intercourse with that government, 
and, after remaining several months, by the permission of his 
own government he returned to the United States. Thus, by 
' the acts of Mexico, all diplomatic intercourse between the two 
countries was suspended. 

" Since that time Mexico has, until recently, occupied an 
attitude of hostility towards the United States — has been mar- 
shalling and organizing armies, issuing proclamations, and 
avowing the intention to make war on the United States, either 
by an open declaration, or by invading Texas." 

In a letter from Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, dated June 2, 
1845, it is stated, " It is believed that Mexico is concentrating 
troops on the Rio Grande." 

Again, on the 4th of June, 1845, he says, " I look upon war 
with Mexico as inevitable — a war dictated by the British min- 
ister here, for the purpose of defeating annexation." 



78 CHAGRIN OF MEXICO. 

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Alle^i, June 11, 1845. 

" The minister of the foreign affairs of Mexico, when ask- 
ing for the authorization of the chambers to negotiate with 
Texas on the basis of her independence, at the same time 
declared that the army on the Rio Grande would be reinforced, 
and the agency that obtained and brought back to this govern- 
ment the declaration that the door is open for negotiation of 
a definitive treaty between the two nations, brought also the 
formal notification that this door will be closed again if Texas 
consents in any manner to the resolution passed by the Con- 
gress of the United States on the subject of annexation. Thus 
is it made difficult for Texas, even had her judgment led her 
to reject the overture for her admission into the Federal Union, 
to accept the propositions of Mexico, without incurring the 
imputation of being awed by an armed force, kept avowedly 
upon her frontier to commence hostilities, if her decision 
should be different from that prescribed for her." 

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, June 23, 1845. 

" Mexico, however, has threatened a renewal of the war for 
THE WHOLE OF Texas, if shc acccpts the proposals for annex- 
ation to the Union." 



CHAGRIN OF MEXICO HER MODE OF W^ARFARE. 

Mr. Allen to Mr. Do7ielson^ Jwie 26, 1845. 

" But the very preference manifested by the government and 
people of Texas for annexation to the great republican confed- 
eracy, and for a participation in the benefits and efficacy of 
her free institutions, when contrasted with the alternative of 
separate and acknowledged independence, and when the latter 
alternative was commended to the acceptance of the nation by 
the partiality of mighty powers, must be mortifying to the 
pride of Mexico, and may very probably induce her to com- 
mence against this country sudden and active hostilities. For 



THREATS OF MEXICO. 79 

the last six or eight years her warfare has consisted of irregu 
lar incursions across our western frontier, her forces entering 
and retiring from our territory at wide and uncertain intervals 
of time, and occasioning ruin and distress along the immediate 
line of their marches. A new irruption of this kind may now 
be reasonably expected." 

Mr. Donelson to General Taylor, June 28, 1845. 

" If any reliance is to be placed upon the threats of Mexico, 
and upon the advice which we may presume will be given by 
the French and British governments, an invasion of Texas 
may be confidently anticipated." 

On the 12th and 16th of July, the Mexican secretary of war 
issued circulars, requiring the officers of the army to raise the 
requisite number of troops to wage war against the United States. 
We have placed copies of these circulars in our Appendix.* 

On the 12th of August, 1845, General Arista addressed his 
troops in the following language : — 

" Comrades : The supreme executive has sent to me, by 
express, the news that the United States, in pursuance of their 
ambitious views, having taken possession of the department of 
Texas, he had demanded a declaration of war from Congress 
against that unjust nation. 

" The time to fight is come. We must prepare with the 
ardor inspired by duty and patriotism, when an attack is made 
upon the soil, the honor, and the pride of the nation. 

"Arms are the only arguments to use against banditti 
and men without good faith. Let us hope for that justice 
which is invoked by all society, and the decision of the ci^jil- 
ized world. Our lot will be envied by the rest of the army ; 
we are nearest to the theatre of war ; we are the first to avenge 
the outrages on our country, and to ravish from the usurpers 
the object of their rapines. Large bodies of troops are on 
their march ; they will soon be here, to share our dangers and 
repulse the enemy." 

* See Appendix K. 



80 THREATS OF MEXICO. 

On the 27th of August, 1845, General Paredes thus 
addressed the soldiers of the Mexican army : — 

" Soldiers : A rapacious and grasping race have thrown 
themselves upon our territory, and dare to flatter themselves 
that we will not defend the patrimony which our forefathers 
conquered Avith their blood. They deceive themselves ; we 
will fly to snatch from them the spoils, the possession of which 
they are impudently enjoying ; and they shall learn, by dearly- 
bought experience, that they are not contending with the undis- 
ciplined tribes of Indians whom they robbed of their land, their 
heaven, and their countiy ; and that the Mexicans will ardently 
combat the soldiers of a nation which has sanctioned by its 
laws the most degrading slavery." 

In a letter addressed by Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, 
dated July 24, 1845, he says, " The common opinion of the 
citizens best acquainted with the Mexican population is, that 
the government will be obliged to declare war, in order to have 
the power to compromise with after events." 

Getxeral Taylor to Adjutant' General Jones. 

" Corpus Christi, Aug. 15, 1845. 

" I have the honor to report that, by New Orleans papers 
of the 7th instant, I have received intelligence of the prepar- 
atory steps taken by Mexico towards a declaration of war 
against the United States. 

" I am enabled to say, upon information which is regarded 
as authentic, that General Arista was to leave Monterey on the 
4th of this month for Matamoras, with 1500 men, — 500 being 
caAialry. I learn by the same source, that there are 500 regu- 
lar troops at Matamoras." 

Adjutant- General Jones to General Taylor, Aug. 26, 1845. 

" Official information, at short intervals, is now the more 
necessary, as the country is filled with rumors of the move- 
ment of Mexican troops in direction of your head-quarters, as 
also of matters in relation to our own service." 



COMMUNICATION ACROSS THE FRONTIER PROHIBITED. 81 



COMMUNICATION ACROSS THE FRONTIER PROHIBITED UNDER 
PENALTY OF DEATH. 

General Taylor to Adjutant- General Jones. 

*' Corpus Christi, Sept. 6, 1845. 

" A decree has been issued, prohibiting, under the penalty 
of death, any communication, by writing, across the frontier — 
a precaution which has been adopted on former occasions, and 
caused, no doubt, by our presence here." 

We think that no one will be disposed to doubt the fact, that 
Mexico was uniform in her spirit and acts of hostility towards 
the United States, if in nothing else. To use the language of 
Mr. Madison, she was in "a state of war against the United 
States." It is the notoriety of these hostile manifestations 
which we would have the reader notice, as an important 
element of the subject. 

During every period of the discussion upon the subject of 
annexation, from the first to the last, these manifestations of 
hostility on the part of PvTexico have been known to Congress, 
and to all the political parties of the country. 

By those who claimed that nothing could be generous that 
was not just, they were lamented ; and by others, who claimed 
that party was above principle, we have too much evidence to 
believe that they were encouraged. Still, the vote for annexa- 
tion in Congress was a very decided one. 

It has been assumed by some that we had but little evidence 
that Mexico intended hostilities. If hostilities were not in- 
tended, how could Pena y Pena say to Mr. Black, as he did, 
October 31, 1845, " The government of Mexico has given- its 
orders, for the purpose of suspending, for the present, any act 
of hostility against the United States, and limits itself to the 
defensive, awaiting the issue of the negotiation proposed by 
the government of the United States, through the consul } " 
How could acts of hostility be suspended., if they had not been 
ordered ? and of course the inference is plain, to he renewed 
if negotiation failed. 



S2 COMMUNICATION ACROSS THE FRONTIER PROHIBITED. 

It may be true, perhaps, that Mexico intended no action but 
a display of threats without the sHghtest design of redeeming 
them. If she found us unmoved by these, her counsels of 
prudence were sufficient to produce other and equally safe 
expedients. But the decree alluded to by General Taylor was 
evidence enough that she intended ivar, and nothing but war. 
It was not, however, the open war of civilized nations that they 
looked for and desired, but for opportunities of sudden incur- 
sions and massacres ! They would have ventured attacks 
upon unarmed citizens, asleep, in the night time, and possibly 
upon detachments of troops, if their numbers were so small as 
to give them no apprehension of danger. Not to enjoy such 
privileges of bloodshed was a sore disappointment to them. 
They did not expect to be met on the line, where they could 
have no chance to execute their acts of revenge upon the peo- 
ple of Texas without a check, or a shot that might injure them. 
They, indeed, claimed it as a right, that our army should 
remove beyond the Nueces, until the two governments had 
settled the boundary question. They had a sudden, and for 
them, a novel disposition, to protect their own soil, and their 
own people. But it was thought by our government that no 
evil could arise by giving protection to all the territoiy that 
Texas claimed, knowing full well that the tender mercies of 
Mexico could in no human probability exceed those which 
would be extended by our army, and without any expense to 
them. It was a matter of duty, however, paramount to every 
other consideration with our government, if persuaded that 
any protection was required, to give it with an amplitude that 
should insure entire and unquestioned safety to Texas, and 
preserve unsullied the integrity of the United States. 

Let us now look on the other side. Let us see what was 

THE PREVAILING SPIRIT OF THE UNITED STATES TOWARDS 
MEXICO, 

during this period of threatened hostilities on the part of that 
republic. We would not intentionally bias the reader in favor 



ORDER FOR DEFENCE, NOT INVASION. 83 

of his own country, if she were in the wrong ; nor would we 
endeavor to create prejudices in his mind against a sister 
republic, if she were in the right. Our purpose is, simply, to 
ask a candid attention to facts. Let the documents speak for 
themselves. Our limits allow us no alternative but to make 
extracts, and almost always at the expense of much evidence 
confirmatory of our views, which we are compelled to omit. 

PLEDGE OF AMITY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. 
M}\ Buchanan to General Almo7ite, March 10, 1845. 

" The president sincerely regrets that the government of 
Mexico should have taken offence at these proceedings, [act 
of Congress annexing Texas ;] and he earnestly trusts that it 
may hereafter be disposed to view them in a more favorable 
and friendly light. Whilst entering upon the duties of the 
presidential office, he cheerfully declares, in advance, that his 
most strenuous efforts shall be devoted to the amicable adjust- 
ment of every cause of complaint between the two govern- 
ments, and to the cultivation of the kindest and most friendly 
relations between the sister Republics." 

ACTS OF HOSTILITY FORBIDDEN BY THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Donelson, June 3, 1845. 

" This government will studiously refrain from all acts of 
hostility towards that Republic, (Mexico,) unless these should 
become absolutely necessary in self-defence. Orders have 
been transmitted to Captain Stockton in accordance with this 
declaration." 

ORDER FOR DEFENCE, NOT INVASION. 

Secretary of War to General Taylor, June 15, 1845. 

" You will limit yourself to the territory of Texas, unless 
Mexico should declare war against the United States." 



84 ORDER TO AVOID AGGRESSION. 



ORDER TO SPARE ANY MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS EAST SIDE 
OF THE RIO GRANDE. 

Secretary of War to General Tat/lor, July 8, 1845. 

" This department is informed that Mexico has some miUtary 
estabUshments on the east side of the Rio Grande, which are, 
and for some time have been, in the actual occupancy of her 
troops. In carrying out the instructions heretofore received, 
you will be careful to avoid any acts of aggression, unless an 
actual state of war should exist." 

This order has been frequently quoted to prove that our 
government was wrong in claiming to the Rio Grande, because 
a few Mexicans had been specially permitted by our govern- 
ment to remain between that river and the Nueces. This is 
certainly novel logic. We should suppose that the meaning 
was quite the contrary. If our government deemed it expe- 
dient to make such an exception, the fact of making it is evi- 
dence to prove that it considered its title to the territory un- 
doubted ; otherwise the act would have been one of inconsistent 
assumption. It was an act of delibei-ate indulgence. If the 
right of exception implies any thing, it implies the right of 
possession. 



ORDER TO AVOID AGGRESSION, BUT TO PROTECT TEXAS. 
Secretary of War to General Taylor, July 30, 1845. 

" While avoiding, as you have been instructed to do, all 
aggressive measures towards Mexico, as long as the relations 
of peace exist between that republic and the United States, 
you are expected to occupy, protect, and defend the territory 
of Texas to the extent that it has been occupied by the people 
of Texas." 

This was made subject to the exception given in the letter 
of July 8. 



U. S. GOVERNMENT PROPOSES TO NEGOTIATE. 85 



ASSURANCE OF GENERAL TAYLOR THAT FRIENDLY RELATIONS 
WOULD NOT BE INTERRUPTED. 

General Taylor to Adjutant- General Jones, July 20, 1845. 

" The department may rest assured that I will take no step 
to interrupt the friendly relations between the United States 
and Mexico." 



GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES PROPOSES TO NEGOTIATE. 
APPOINTMENT OF MR. SLIDELL BIINISTER TO MEXICO. 

The desire for peace was universal and sincere with the 
people of the United States, and it pervaded all the acts of our 
government. The olive branch was made a part of the national 
banner, and peaceful negotiation was invited at every step and 
movement of -our army by our government. From evidence 
that was deemed authentic, it was generally believed, in this 
country, that the people of Mexico were averse to war with the 
United States, and that they would be glad to have an opportu- 
nity to sustain their government in any measures that would 
secure a permanent peace. Constantly alive to the best good 
of that Republic, and a consistent friend to peace, the president 
of the United States thought that an act of condescension on 
the part of the more powerful government might have a salu- 
tary effect in conciliating Mexico, and in preparing her to 
listen to those dictates of prudence which one would suppose 
she would be at no loss to find in her own distracted condition. 
In his message of December, 1845, the president says, — 
" After our army and navy had remained on the frontier 
and coasts of Mexico for many weeks, without any hostile 
movement on her part, though her menaces were continued, I 
deemed it important to put an end, if possible, to this state of 
things. With this view, I caused steps to be taken, in the 
month of September last, to ascertain distinctly, and in authentic 
form, what the designs of the Mexican government were ; 
8 



86 U. S. GOVERNMENT PROPOSES TO NEGOTIATE. 

whether it was their intention to declare war, or to invade 
Texas, or whether they were disposed to adjust and settle, m 
an amicable manner, the pending difRculties between the two 
countries. On the 9th of November, an official answer vv^as 
received, that the Mexican government consented to renew the 
diplomatic relations which had been suspended in March last, 
and for that purpose were willing to accredit a minister from 
the United States. With a sincere desire to preserve peace, 
and restore relations of a good understanding between the two 
Republics, I waived all ceremony as to the manner of renewing 
diplomatic intercourse between them ; and, assuming the initi- 
ative, on the 10th of November, a distinguished citizen of 
Louisiana * was appointed envoy extraordinary and minister 
plenipotentiary to Mexico, clothed with full powers to adjust 
and definitely settle all pending differences between the two 
countries, including those of boundary between Mexico and 
the State of Texas." * * * " He has been instructed to 
bring the negotiation with which he is charged to a conclusion 
at the earliest practicable period ; which, it is expected, will 
be in time to enable me to communicate the result to Congress 
during the present session. Until that result is known, I for- 
bear to recommend to Congress such ulterior measures of re- 
dress for the wrongs and injuries we have so long borne, as it 
would have been proper to make had no such negotiation been 
instituted." 

This was magnanimity — such as could only come from a 
nation conscious of its accountability, greatness, and power. 
A feeble nation would lose its rank, and be stigmatized as 
wanting in courage and self-respect, that should assume the 
initiative in renewing diplomatic relations that had been sus- 
pended by the acts of another power. It was an act worthy 
of this Republic, and, if any evidence were wanting fully to 
confirm the sincerity of the government declarations manifest- 
ing a strong desire for peace, this must be deemed conclusive 

* Hon. John Slidell. 



PROPOSAL TO RESTORE FRIENDLY RELATIONS. 87 

by all who do not wish to deceive themselves by forced con- 
victions that cannot bear the test of truth. But this appoint- 
ment, and the results of it, will be best understood by a perusal 
of the government documents. 

PROPOSAL OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT TO MEXICO TO RESTORE 
FRIENDLY RELATIONS. 

Mr. Buchanaii to Mr. Black, U. S. Consul at Mexico, September 17, 

1845. 

" Information recently received at this department, both 
from yourself and others, renders it probable that the Mexican 
government may now be willing to restore the diplomatic rela- 
tions between the two countries. At the time of their suspen- 
sion, General Almonte was assured of the desire felt by the 
president to adjust amicably every cause of complaint between 
the governments, and to cultivate the kindest and most friendly 
relations between the sister Republics. It was his duty to place 
the country in a condition successfully to resist the threatened 
invasion of Texas by Mexico, and this has been accomplished. 
He desires, however, that all existing differences should be 
terminated amicably by negotiation, and not by the sword. He 
is anxious to preserve peace, although prepared for war. 

" Actuated by these sentiments, the President has directed 
me to instruct you — in the absence of any diplomatic agent 
in Mexico — to ascertain from the Mexican government, 
whether they would receive an envoy from the United States, 
intrusted with full powerto adjust all the questions in dispute 
between the two governments. Should the answer be in the 
afhrmative, such an envoy will be immediately despatched to 
Mexico. 

" If the president were disposed to stand upon a mere ques- 
tion of etiquette, he would wait until the Mexican government, 
which has suspended the diplomatic relations between the two 
countries, should ask that they may be restored. But his desire 
is so strong to terminate the present unfortunate state of our 



88 HOW THE PROPOSITION WAS RECEIVED. 

relations with that RepubUc, that he has consented to waive all 
ceremony, and take the initiative. 

" So soon as you have received the answer of that govern- 
ment, you will communicate a copy of it, without delay, by 
some safe opportunity, to F. M. Dimond, Esq., our consul at 
Vera Cruz. You will also transmit a copy to this department. 
It is of great consequence that you should use as much 
despatch as possible in executing this important commission. 

" The future course of this government may, and probably 
will, depend upon the answer which you may receive. * * * 

" There will be a vessel of war at Vera Cruz ready to 
receive your despatch, and to convey it to the United States 
with the least possible delay." 

now THE PROPOSITION WAS RECEIVED APPREHENSION OF 

THE MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. 

Mr. Black received the letter of the secretary of state on 
the 10th of October, and on the 11th, had a confidential 
interview with the minister of foreign relations in Mexico. 
He manifested an earnest desire that negotiations might take 
place, but there was an evident solicitude in regard to the 
effect that such a negotiation would produce upon the people. 
He was fearful that it might prove fatal to their then existing 
government. He requested of our consul a communication 
in writing, expressing the wishes of the United States govern- 
ment, and promised an explicit answer. All interviews and 
communications were to be confidential, and yet no regard 
whatever was paid to the most solemn injunctions of secrecy. 

Mr. Black, in his letter to Pena y Pena, October 13, 1845, 
very judiciously gave the precise words of Mr. Buchanan embra- 
cing the proposition, which we have quoted, and adds with 
evident pleasure his own convictions upon the subject. He 
says, " The undersigned can assure his excellency, that it is 
with the most heartfelt satisfaction he sees, in the preceding 
proposition on the part of the United States, (notwithstanding 



MEXICO ASSENTS TO THE PROPOSITION. 89 

the preparations for war on both sides,) that a door is still 
left open for conciliation, whereby all existing differences may- 
be amicably and equitably adjusted, and the honor of both 
nations preserved inviolate." 

MEXICO ASSENTS TO THE PROPOSITION OF THE UNITED STATES. 

On the 15th of October, Mr. Pena y Pena sent Mr. Black his 
answer, from which the following extracts are made : — 

" I have informed my government of the private conference 
which took place between you and myself on the 1 1th instant, 
and have submitted to it the confidential letter which you, 
in consequence of, and agreeably to, what was then said, 
addressed to me yesterday. In answer, I have to say to you, 
that although the Mexican nation is deeply injured by the 
United States, through the acts committed by them in the 
department of Texas, which belongs to this nation, my gov- 
ernment is disposed to receive the commissioner of the United 
States, who may come to this capital with full powers from 
his government to settle the present dispute in a peaceful, rea- 
sonable, and honorable manner ; thus giving a new proof, that 
even in the midst of its injuries, and of its firm decision to 
exact adequate reparation for them, it does not repel with con- 
tumely the measure of reason and peace to which it is invited 
by its adversary. * * * 

" What my government requires above all things is, that 
the mission of the commissioner of the United States, and his 
reception by us, should appear to be always absolutely frank, 
and free from every sign of menace or coercion. And thus, 
Mr. Consul, while making known to your government the dis- 
position on the part of that of Mexico to receive the commis- 
sioner, you should impress upon it, as indispensable, the previ- 
ous recall of the whole naval force now lying in sight of our 
port of Vera Cruz. Its presence would degrade Mexico, while 
she is receiving the commissioner, and would justly subject the 
United States to the imputation of contradicting, by acts, the 
8* 



90 WITHDRAWAL OF THE NAVAL FORCE. 

vehement desire of conciliation, peace, and friendship, which 
is professed and asserted by words." 

In a letter from Mr. Black to Mr. Buchanan, dated October 
28, 1845, he says, " The Mexican government is very anxious 
to know when they may expect the envoy from the United 
States ; and also, that I may soon be able to give it the 
information of the American squadron having retired from 
the port of Vera Cruz. 

" We have rumors every day that a revolution is shortly to 
take place, but, as yet, things are quiet. Let this go as it will, 
I think that an arrangement is safe, as it has the sanction of 
the Mexican Confess in secret session." 



WITHDRAWAL OF THE NAVAL FORCE OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Mr. Blach to Mr. Pena y Pena, October 29, 1845. 

" The undersigned has the honor to transmit herewith a copy 
of a communication addressed to Commodore Conner, com- 
mander of the American squadron before Vera Cruz, to the 
American consul, F. M. Dimond, Esq., of that place, by which 
his excellency will see that the wishes of the Mexican govern- 
ment have been, in this respect, fully and promptly complied 
with." 

Commodore Conner to Mr. Dimond. 

IT. S. Ship Falmouth, > 

Off Sacrificios, October 23, 1845. > 

"By the letter of Mr. Black, which you were kind enough 
to send me this morning, I learn that the proposition to enter 
into negotiation, made by our government to that of this 
countiy, had been accepted. There appears to exist, on the 
part of this government, some fear lest they should be accused 
of being forced into this measure by the hostile attitude of the 
United States. 

" Being fully aware that our government has had no inten- 
tion of threatening this country, but, on the contrary, has 



RECEPTION OF BIR. SLIDELL IN MEXICO. 91 

always been actuated by a sincere desire to heal existing differ- 
ences in a manner honorable to both nations, I beheve I shall 
best contribute to such an arrangement by withdrawing our 
naval force from before Vera Cruz." 

SINGULAR AND UNEXPECTED RECEPTION OF MR. SLIDELL, 

IN MEXICO. 

Mr, Black to Mr. Buchaiian, December 18, 1845. 

" On Wednesday, the 8d instant, I received a letter from our 
consul at Vera Cruz, dated the 29th of November, informing 
me that a vessel had just arrived at Sacrificios, on board of 
which was the Hon. John Slidell, who had sent for him, the 
said consul, to come down to that place, as he wished to leave 
Vera Cruz for the capital by that night's diligence ; but he, the 
consul, was of opinion that he would not be able to leave 
until the next stage. 

"I went up to the president's quarters, when the minister 
came out in the ante-chamber and met me, and accosted me, 
saying that the government was informed that there was an 
arrival at Vera Cruz from the United States, bringing out a 
commissioner, by which the government was taken by sur- 
prise, and asked me who could this commissioner he, and what 
had he come for ? I told him I did not know, but I presumed 
it was the envoy which the Mexican government had agreed to 
receive from the government of the United States ; all the 
information which I had upon the subject was, that the consul 
of the United States at Vera Cruz had advised me, in a letter 
under date of the 29th of November, that the Hon. John 
Slidell had just arrived at Sacrificios, and wished to leave Vera 
Cniz for this capital by the first diligence, and that I was under 
the impression that this person was an envoy from the govern- 
ment of the United States to that of Mexico, as we had good 
reason to expect one about this time. He said that ought not 
to be ; the government did not expect an envoy from the United 
States until January, as they were not prepared to receive him ; 
and he desired, if possible, that ho would not come to the capital, 



92 EMBARRASSING POSITION OF THE U. S. MINISTER. 

nor even disembark at this time, and that I should endeavor to 
prevent his doing so, as his appearance in the capital at this lime 
might prove destructive to the government, and thus defeat the 
whole affair. You know the opposition are calling us traitors, 
for entering into this arrangement vvith you. I told him that I 
regretted this had not been known in time, as the envoy would 
be now on his way to this capital, and that the Mexican gov- 
ernment had set no time for his arrival, and it was presumed 
that they would be ready to receive him whenever he arrived. 
' I know,' he said, ' there was no time set ; but from the conversa- 
tions which I have had with yourself, and, from what I have 
heard from others, I had good reason to believe that the envoy 
would not have been appointed by your government, or, at 
least, not have started on his mission, until after the meeting 
of Congress.' * * * 

" He said that the government itself was well disposed, and 
ready to proceed in the negotiation, but that if the affair was 
commenced now, it would endanger its existence ; that the 
government were preparing the thing, collecting the opinion 
and consent of the departments, which they expected to have 
finished by January, and then they would be able to proceed in 
the affair with more security ; that the government were afraid 
that the appearance of the envoy at this time would produce a 
revolution against it, which might terminate in its destruc- 
tion." 

EMBARRASSING POSITION OF THE U. S. MINISTER. 

MEXICAN DIPLOMACY. 
Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, Mexico, December 17, 1845. 
" I reached this city on the 6th instant. At Puebla, I was 
met by our consul, Mr. Black, who in some measure prepared 
me for the delays and difficulties which I should have to con- 
tend with. * * *- 

" On Monday, the 8th instant, I addressed to the minister of 
foreign affairs a note, in the usual form, announcing my arrival 
in the capital, accompanying it with a copy of my letter of 



EMBARRASSING POSITION OF THE U. S. MINISTER. 93 

credence,* and your official communication to the minister 
of foreign affairs, and asking to be informed when and where 
I should be admitted to present my credentials to the presi- 
dent. * * * It was handed by Mr. Black to the minister, 
who assured him that I should have an answer on the following 
Wednesday ; and requested him to call and receive it. On 
that day, however, Mr. Black received a note from the secre- 
tary ot the minister, stating that it was necessary to submit the 
matter to the council of government, and that he would be 
advised when the answer would be given. 

" This government is a permanent body, of a very anoma- 
lous character, composed of persons not removable by the 
executive ; its functions, so far as I can understand them, are, 
with a few exceptions, — and these not applying to foreign rela- 
tions, — merely advisory, and no obligation exists on the part of 
the executive, but in the exceptional cases, to consult the 
council. The council was not consulted when the executive 
determined to renew diplomatic relations with the United 
States, and a recourse to it at this moment was altogether 
gratuitous. It is a notorious fact, that several of the members 
of this council are not only in open and violent opposition to 
the present administration, but endeavoring to get up a revolu- 
tionary movement to overthrow it, and it is generally un- 
derstood that a majority of them are unfavorably disposed 
towards it. 

" This, at least, is certain — the administration, in referring a 
matter entirely within their own competence to a body whose 
decision they cannot control, and upon whose sympathies they 
cannot rely, manifest either a weakness or a bad faith, which 
renders the prospect of any favorable issue to negotiations 
with them at best very problematical. 

" The deliberations of the council, although ostensibly con- 
fidential, soon became known out of doors. It had been twice 
or thrice convoked for the purpose of deliberating upon my 

* See Appendix L. 



94 EMBARRASSING POSITION OF THE U. S. MINISTER. 

reception, and it is perfectly well known that it has advised 
against it. The most absurd reasons have there been ad- 
vanced against my recognition ; so absurd, indeed, that they 
would appear scarcely credible to any one not upon the 
spot. * * * 

" The objections started were, that my credentials did not 
appear to have been given with the sanction of Congress ; that 
my appointment had not been confirmed by the Senate ; that 
this government had agreed only to receive a commissioner, 
and that, consequently, the appointment of an envoy extraor- 
dinary and minister plenipotentiary was not in accordance with 
the letter of the 15th October, from the minister of foreign 
affairs to Mr. Black ; that this letter only contemplated 
negotiations of Texas ; and finally, to cap the climax of ab- 
surdity, that my powers were not sufficient! 

" Having received no reply to my note of the 8th instant, 
and no assurance of the time when I might expect one, I 
addressed another, on the 15th instant, stating my desire to 
communicate speedily with my government, and requesting to 
know when I might expect an answer. I have, while writing 
this, received a communication from the minister of foreign 
relations, of which I shall furnish you a copy.* You will 
observe that it is dated yesterday, although I have no doubt it 
was written after the final negative decision of the council, 
which was rendered on that day. You will find it evasive and 
unsatisfactory, intimating difficulties respecting my credentials, 
and that negotiations, by the terms of his letter to our consul, 
were to be confined to the subject of Texas. 

" You will observe that this note is not addressed to me in 
my official capacity ; the omission to do so is certainly not an 
accidental one. 

" Notwithstanding the desire, which I believe the present 
administration really entertains, to adjust all their difficulties 
with us, so feeble and inert is it, that I am rather inclined to 

* See Appendix M, 



EMBARRASSING POSITION OF THE U. S. MINISTER. 95 

the opinion that the chances of a successful negotiation would 
be better with one more hostile, but possessing greater energy. 
The country, torn by conflicting factions, is in a state of 
perfect anarchy, its finances in a condition utterly des- 
perate. * * * 

" A refusal to treat with, or even receive me at all, in the 
only capacity in which I am authorized to act, under pretexts 
more or less plausible, is a possible (I ought perhaps to say a 
probable) event. This is a contingency which could not have 
been anticipated, and for which your instructions have conse- 
quently not provided. It will place me in a novel, awkward, 
and almost embarrassing position, and impose upon me a grave 
responsibility. Should it occur, I shall endeavor so to conduct 
myself as to throw the whole odium of the failure of the 
negotiation upon this government ; point out, in the most 
temperate manner, the inevitable consequences of so unheard- 
of a violation of all the usages which govern the intercourse 
between civilized nations ; and declare my intention to remain 
here until I can receive instructions adapted to the exigencies 
of the case." 

Mr. Slidell sent to Mr. Buchanan the files of the " Amigo 
del Puella^^'' the leading opposition journal. " It breathes," 
says he, " the fiercest hostility against the United States, de- 
nounces the proposed negotiations as treason ; and in the last 
number, openly calls upon the troops and the people to put 
down the government by force." * * * 

" P. S. December 18, 1845. At the moment I was about 
to close this, I obtained the dictamen of the council of gov- 
ernment, published in the ' Siglo.' I send you the paper." 

It should be remembered that this was the letter received by 
our government on the 12th of January, 1846, and which 
gave rise to the order to General Taylor on the 13th — the 
following day. 



96 MEXICO REFUSES TO FULFIL HER ENGAGEMENTS. 



MEXICO REFUSES TO FULFIL ITS ENGAGEMENTS OF 
OCTOBER, 15, 1845. 
Mr. Pena y Pena to Mr. SUdell, December 20, 1845. 
"The undersigned having submitted the whole to his excel- 
lency, the president of the Republic, and having also con- 
sidered attentively the note addressed to him by the secretary 
of state of the United States, relative to the mission of Mr. 
Slidell, regrets to inform him that, although the supreme gov- 
ernment of the Republic is animated by the pacific and con- 
ciliatory intentions which the undersigned manifested to the 
consul of the United States in his confidential note of the 
14th of October last, it does not conceive that, in order to 
fulfil the object proposed by the said consul, in the name of 
the American government, and accepted by the undersigned, 
it should admit his excellency Mr. Slidell in the character with 
which he is invested, of envoy extraordinary and minister 
plenipotentiary residing in the Republic." 

Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, December 27, 1845. 

" On the 21st instant, I received from Mr. Peiia y Pena his 
promised reply, (from which the above is an extract,) con- 
veying the formal and unqualified refusal of the Mexican 
government to receive me in the character for which I am 
commissioned. Of this most extraordinary document I send a 
copy. To this I replied, under the date of the 24th instant, 
disproving the unfounded assertions of Mr. Pena y Pena, and 
refuting the arguments upon which the refusal to receive me 
was based." 

As the reply of Mr. Slidell to Mr. Pena y Peiia, alluded to 
above, embraces a variety of information of interest to all who 
desire to understand what were the true relations existing at 
that time between the two countries, we have placed it in the 
Appendix.* We would give a place to the letter of Mr. 

* See Appendix N. 



FOLLY OF MEXICO. 97 

Pena y Pefia, also, to which this is a reply, if we had not 
determined to insert, for several reasons which will appear, his 
communication of December 11, 1845, addressed to the coun- 
cil. This communication embraces essentially and briefly his 
views, which are elaborately given in his letter.* 

FOLLY OF MEXICO PRUDENCE AND PATIENCE ADVISED BY 

THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. 
Mr. Buchanan to Mr. SUdell, January 20, 1846. 

'' Should the Mexican government, by finally refusing to 
receive you, consummate the act of folly and bad faith of 
which they have afforded such strong indications, nothing will 
then remain for this government but to take the redress of the 
wrongs of its citizens into its ov/n hands. 

" In the event of such a refusal, the course which you have 
determined to pursue is the proper one. You ought, in your 
own language, so to conduct yourself, as to throw the whole 
odium of the failure of the negotiation upon the Mexican gov- 
ernment ; — point out, in the most temperate manner, the 
immediate consequences of so unheard-of a violation of all 
the usages which govern the intercourse between civilized 
nations ; and declare your intention to remain in Mexico until 
you can receive instructions adapted to the exigencies of the 
case. This sojourn will afford you an honorable opportunity 
to watch the course of events, and avail yourself of any favor- 
able circumstances, which, in the mean time, may occur. 
Should a revolution have taken place before the 1st of Janu- 
ary, the day appointed for the meeting of Congress, (an event 
which you deemed probable,) or should a change of ministry 
have been effected, which you considered almost certain, this 
delay will enable you to ascertain the views and wishes of the 
new government or administration. The desire of the presi- 
dent is, that you should conduct yourself with such wisdom 
and firmness in the crisis, that the voice of the American peo- 

* See Appendix O. 
9 



98 HONORABLE EFFORT ADVISED BY U. S. GOVERNMENT. 

pie shall be unanimous in favor of redressing the wrongs of 
our much injured and long suffering claimants. 

" It would seem to be the desire of the Mexican govern- 
ment to evade the redress of the real injuries of our citizens, 
by confining the negotiation to the adjustment of a pecuniary 
indemnity for its imaginary rights over Texas. This cannot 
be tolerated. The two subjects must proceed hand in hand ; 
they can never be separated. It is evidently with the view 
of thus limiting the negotiation that the Mexican authorities 
have been quibbling about the mere form of your credentials, 
without ever asking whether you had instructions and full pow- 
ers to adjust the Texan boundary. The advice of the coun- 
cil of the government seems to have been dictated by the same 
spirit." 

[Advice of Order to General Taylor.'] 

" In the mean time, the president, in anticipation of the final 
refusal of the Mexican government to receive you, has ordered 
the army of Texas to advance and take position on the left 
bank of the Rio Grande, and has directed that a strong fleet 
shall be immediately assembled in the Gulf of Mexico. He 
will thus be prepared to act with vigor and promptitude the 
moment that Congress shall give him the authority." 



HONORABLE EFFORT AND PERSEVERANCE ADVISED BY THE 
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. 

Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Slidell, January 28, 1846. 

" After a careful and critical examination of the contents, 
[of your despatches,] the president entirely approves your con- 
duct. The exposure contained in your reply to the Mexican 
minister of foreign affairs,* of the evasions and subterfuges 
of his government in excuse of their refusal to recognize you 
as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the 



* See Appendix N. 



?3i 



HONORABLE EFFORT ADVISED. 99 

United States, is so complete as to leave me nothing to add 
upon the subject. It is now, however, morally certain that the 
insurrection of Paredes has proved successful, and that a new 
administration of some kind or other at this moment controls 
that unfortunate country. 

" The question arises, therefore, what course you should 
pursue in this contingency. In my despatch on the 20th 
instant, I have already anticipated nearly all that is necessary 
to say in answer to this question. The president is sincerely 
desirous to preserve peace with Mexico. Both inclination 
and policy dictate this course. Should the Mexican govern- 
ment, however, finally refuse to receive you, the cup of for- 
bearance will then have been exhausted. Nothing can 
remain but to take the redress of the injuries to our citizens, 
and the insults to our government, into our own hands. In 
view of this serious alternative, every honorable effort should 
be made before a final rupture. You should wait patiently for 
a final decision on the question of your reception, unless it 
should be unreasonably protracted, or you should clearly dis- 
cover that they are trifling witli this government. It is impos- 
sible for any person not upon the spot, and conversant with the 
motives and movements of the revolutionary government now 
most probably existing in Mexico, to give you precise instruc- 
tions how long your forbearance ought to continue. Much 
must necessarily be left to your own discretion. In general 
terms, I may say that you should take care to act with such 
prudence and firmness, that it m.ay appear manifest to the 
people of the United States and to the world, that a rupture 
could not be honorably avoided. After this, should the Mexi- 
can government finally refuse to receive you, then demand 
passports from the proper authority, and return to the United 
States. It will then become the duty of the president to sub- 
mit the whole case to Congress, and call upon the nation to 
assert its just rights, and avenge its injured honor." 



100 REVOLUTION IN MEXICO. 

REVOLUTION IN BIEXICO PAREDES IN POWER. 

Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, January 14, 1845. 

" On the 2d January, Paredes entered the capital with his 
troops, those already stationed here joining his triumphal 
march. On the same day, a junta of miUtary officers, con- 
vened by him, met and established a plan of provisional gov- 
ernment, to be administered by a president elected by a body 
composed of two notables from each department. These 
notables, nominated by Paredes, met on the following evening, 
and, as you may readily imagine, unanimously elected him 
president, and on the 4th instant he took his oath of office. 
By the plan of the junta of officers, a constitutional Congress 
was to be convened, with unlimited powers for the establish- 
ment of a new government, &c. 

" I shall not be surprised to receive, in a day or two, notice 
of the escort (which had been asked for in the early part of 
the month) being at my disposition. When received, I shall 
proceed, without delay, to Jalapa. If there be any disposi- 
tion on the part of those now in power to reconsider the 
decision of their predecessors, I feel satisfied that my absence 
from the capital will tend rather to accelerate than to retard 
its manifestations." 



UNITED STATES AND GREAT BRITAIN. DUPLICITY OF THE 

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT. 

Mr. Slidell to Mr. Btichanan, Jalapa, February 6, 1846. 

" I reached this place on the 20th ultimo. Since my de- 
spatch of the 14tli ultimo, nothing has occurred to indicate the 
course likely to be taken by the existing government as to my 
reception ; but I think it will mainly be controlled by the aspect 
of the Oregon question. Should our difficulties with Great 
Britain continue to present a prospect of war with that power, 
there will be but a very faint hope of a change of policy 
here. * * * 



WEAKNESS OF PAREDES. 101 

" I send a copy of a communication of Mr. Pena y Pefia to 
the council of government, made on the 11th of December, 
inviting an expression of opinion of the council on the subject 
of my recognition, and suggesting his reasons why it should 
be refused.* This document presents in the most glaring light 
the bad faith of the late government ; and, in connection with 
the statement of Consul Black, accompanying my despatch of 
the 17lh of December,t shows in the most conclusive manner 
that, from the moment my arrival was announced, it had deter- 
mined to avail itself of any pretence, however frivolous, to 
refuse a reception, in the hope that by thus depriving its oppo- 
nents of their chief theme of reproach and agitation, the im- 
pending blow would be averted." 

weakness of PAREDES. APPROVAL OF GENERAL TAYLOR's 
ADVANCE. 

Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, Jalapa, February 17, 1846. 

" Appearances justify the belief that Paredes will not be 
able to sustain himself until the meeting of the constitutional 
Congress ; that his government will perish from inanition, if 
from no other cause. 

" The advance of General Taylor's force to the left bank 
of the Rio (Grande) del Norte, and the strengthening our 
squadron in the gulf, are wise measures, which may exercise a 
salutary influence upon the course of this government." 



SOLICITATIONS FOR NEGOTIATION RENEWED BY MR. SLIDELL. 

Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, Jalapa, March 1, 1846. 

" In conformity with your instructions, I have addressed a 
note to the minister of foreign relations, resubmitting the ques- 
tion of my recognition for final decision. 

* See Appendix O. t See Appendix P. 

9* 



102 SOLICITATIONS FOR NEGOTIATION RENEWED. 

" My note will be presented at the most propitious moment 
that could have been selected. All attempts to effect a loan 
have completely failed. The suspicion of intention to introduce 
a foreign monarch has tended very much to abate the clamor 
against the United States. 

" My letters from Mexico speak confidently of my recogni- 
tion, but there is no safety in reasoning from the probabili- 
ties or analogies as to the course of public men in this coun- 
try." 

After reviewing the correspondence between the two gov- 
ernments, with an independence becoming the subject, and yet 
with the best possible spirit, Mr. Slidell says, in his letter to 
Don Joaquim Castillo y Lanzas, minister of foreign relations, 
under date of March 1, 1846, — 

" The president of the United States entirely approves the 
course pursued by the undersigned, and the communications 
by him addressed to the Mexican government. Had the then 
existing government continued in power, as no alternative 
would have remained, the undersigned would have been directed 
to demand his passports. 

• " The destinies of the Mexican Republic, however, having 
since been committed to other hands, the president is unwilling 
to take a course which would inevitably result in war, without 
making another effort to avert so great a calamity. He wishes, 
by exhausting every honorable means of conciliation, to de- 
monstrate to the civilized world that, if its peace shall be dis- 
turbed, the responsibility must fall upon Mexico alone. He is 
sincerely desirous to preserve that peace ; but the state quasi 
hostility which now exists on the part o!* Mexico is one which 
is incompatible with the dignity and interests of the United 
States ; and it is for the Mexican government to decide whether 
it shall give place to friendly negotiations or lead to an open 
rupture." 



MR. SLIDELL INSTRUCTED TO PERSEVERE. 103 



MR. SLIDELL. INSTRUCTED BY HIS GOVERNMENT STILL TO PER- 
SEVERE. 
Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Slidell, March 12, 1846. 

" I am directed by the president to instruct you not to 
LEAVE that Repubhc until you shall have made a formal de- 
mand to be received by the new government. The govern- 
ment of Paredes came into existence, not by a regular consti- 
tutional succession, but in consequence of a military revolution, 
by which the subsisting constitutional authorities were sub- 
verted. It cannot be considered as a mere continuance of the 
government of Herrera. On the contrary, the form of govern- 
ment has been entirely changed, as well as all the high func- 
tionaries at the head of the administration. The two govern- 
ments are certainly not so identical, that the refusal of the one 
to receive you ought to be considered conclusive evidence that 
such would be the determination of the other. It would be 
difficult, on such a presumption, in regard to so feeble and 
distracted a country as Mexico, to satisfy the American people 
that all had been done which ought to have been done, to avoid 
the necessity of resorting to hostilities. 

" On your return to the United States, energetic measures 
against Mexico would at once be recommended by the presi- 
dent ; and these might fail to obtain the support of Congress, 
if it could be asserted that the existing government had not 
refused to receive our minister. It would not be a sufficient 
answer to such an allegation, that the government of Herrera 
had refused to receive you, and that you were therefore justi- 
fied in leaving the country, after a short delay, because, in the 
mean time, the government of Paredes had not voluntarily 
offered to reverse the decision of its predecessor. 

" I transmit you, herewith, a sealed letter from the president 
of the United States, accrediting you in your official character 
to General Paredes, as president, ad interim.^ of the Mexican 
Republic. * * * 

" You suppose that appearances justify the belief that 



104 UNITED STATES MINISTER AGAIN REJECTED. 

Paredes will not be able to sustain himself until the meeting 
of the constitutional Congress ; that his government will perish 
from inanition, if from no other cause. 

" In this critical posture of Mexican affairs, it will be. for 
yourself to decide the question of the time of your departure 
according to events as they may occur. If, after you shall 
have fulfilled your instructions, you should indulge in a reason- 
able hope that, by continuing in Mexico, you could thus best 
subserve the interests of your country, then you ought to re- 
main, provided this can be done with honor. The president 
reposes entire confidence in your patriotism and discretion, and 
knows no temporary inconvenience to yourself will prevent 
you from performing your duty. 

" It may be that, when prepared to take your departure, 
another revolution might be impending, the result of which 
would enable you, by a timely interposition, to accomplish the 
great objects of your mission. Besides, in the present dis- 
tracted condition of Mexico, it is of importance that we should 
have an able and discreet agent in that country to watch the 
progress of events, and to communicate information on which 
the department could rely." 



UNITED STATES MINISTER AGAIN REFUSED BY MEXICO. 
Mr. Slidell to Mr. Buchanan, March 18, 1846. 

" On the 15th instant,! received from the minister of foreign 
relations a reply to my communication of the 1st instant, of 
which you have already been advised. 

" It is a peremptory refusal to receive me in the capacity 
of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary. I have 
consequently, in conformity to your instructions, applied for 
my passports, and, so soon as they are received, I shall proceed 
to Vera Cruz, there to embark for New Orleans. 

" 1 am at a loss whether to ascribe his (Paredes) refusal to 
receive me, at a moment when his position is so critical, to the 
dread of having the pretext which he had so successfully used 



THE LETTERS OF MR. CASTILLO Y LANZAS. 105 

against Herrera, employed against himself, or to a reliance 
on foreign intervention. Perhaps his motive may be a mixed 
one. 

" As to any changes of rulers in Mexico, I look upon them 
as a matter of great indifference. We shall never be able to 
treat with her on fair terms until she has been taught to respect 
us. It certainly was proper to place us in the strongest moral 
position before our own people and the world, by exhausting 
every possible means of conciliation ; but here all amicable 
advances are considered as indicative either of weakness or 
treachery." 

THE LETTERS OF MR. CASTILLO Y LANZAS. 

Mr. Castillo y Lanzas was the successor of Mr. Pefia y Pena 
in office. He addressed several letters to Mr. Slidell, and they 
are published with the other documents of our government ; 
but as they present no new views, we do not deem them of 
sufficient importance to be given in this place. They are 
written with spirit, but not with much judgment, and they add 
nothing to the strength of the positions of his predecessors in 
office. 

In his letter of March 12, 1846, to Mr. Slidell, with a flip- 
pant arrogance and ill-judged rudeness, he says, " After the 
definite and clear explanations rendered to his excellency, 
Mr. Slidell, in the note of 20th December last, referred to by 
him, it is not easy to comprehend how the executive of the 
United States should still think it can find reasons for insisting 
upon that which was then refused upon grounds the most con- 
clusive." 

He endeavors to sustain charges of usurpation, violence, 
fraud, artifice, and intrigue against the United States, in a man- 
ner which might be looked for in an ultra party journal, but 
not in the communications of a cabinet minister. He arrives 
at a conclusion, as others had done before him, not warranted 
by the premises, or by the diplomatic usage of nations. 

" The Mexican government," he says, " offered to admit 



106 MEXICAN GOVERNMENT WITHOUT EXCUSE. 

the plenipotentiary or commissioner who should come clothed 
with special powers to treat upon the question of Texas. 
Upon this point the resolve of the Mexican government is 
immutable. 

" It is, therefore, upon the United States, and not upon Mex- 
ico, that devolves to determine in the alternative presented by- 
Mr. Slidell, that is, between a friendly negotiation and an open 
rupture." 

MEXICAN GOVERNMENT VITITHOUT EXCUSE OR DEFENCE. 

In reply to the last paragraph of the letter of Mr. Castillo y 
Lanzas, Mr. Slidell, under date of March 17, 1846, says, — 

" The Mexican government cannot shift the responsibility 
of war upon the United States, by assuming that they are the 
aggressors. A plain, unanswerable fact responds to all the 
subtilties and sophistries by which it is attempted to obscure the 
real question ; that fact is, the presence in Mexico of a minis- 
ter of the United States, clothed with full power to settle all 
the questions in dispute between the two nations, and among 
them that of Texas. Their complaints are mutual ; the con- 
sideration of them cannot be separated ; and they must be set- 
tled by the same negotiation, or by the arbitrament which Mex- 
ico herself has elected." 

Again, in a letter to Mr. Buchanan, dated April 2, 1846, Mr. 
Slidell says, " The notes of Mr. Castillo y Lanzas will give you 
a correct idea of the temper of the Paredes government ; and, 
although it will probably soon be replaced by another, we have 
no reason to expect a change of tone towards us until Mexico 
shall have been made to feel our strength." 

THE REJECTED MISSION OF PEACE. 

If the act of sending a minister to Mexico was one of mag- 
nanimity on the part of our government, it may be truly said, 
that the mission was executed in beautiful harmony with such 
a spirit. The requisitions of St. Paul to the Corinthians,* with 

* 1 Cor. ch.ap. xiii. 



THE REJECTED MISSION OF PEACE. 107 

regard to the world-wide duties of charity, were never more 
fully exemplified than in the course pursued by our govern- 
ment with that of Mexico. We doubt whether such a series 
of examples of kindness, of patience and forbearance, in a 
nation, can be found in the annals of the world. 

Every step on the part of Mexico was marked by a super- 
cilious recklessness that admits of no solution but in weakness, 
and by a spirit of bold insult that admits of no apology but in 
ignorance. 

She agreed to propositions which she dare not decline, and 
she declined to abide by her agreements, because she dare not 
execute them. She was a slave to a thousand fears that she 
could not define, and she was deluded by a thousand hopes 
that she could not control. She had not courage to avow her 
real motives, and she was willing to submit to any degradation 
in preference to an exposure of her desperate condition. She 
had no confidence but in change, and no hope but in the uncer- 
tainty of all that was doubtful in the future. She considered 
no compromise too dear that promised a temporary influence, 
and no expedient objectionable that postponed present liabilities 
to future contingencies. She was like a subject within the iron 
grasp of unrelenting disease : conscious of its dreadful and with- 
ering })resence, and convinced that all remedies were terrible, but 
reluctant to resort to the benefit of the one, or to submit to the 
crisis of the other. In her necessities and long-continued, sad 
practices, she had exhausted all the changes of escape which a 
kind Providence extends to its subjects of accountability, and 
she was made delirious by the startling conviction that she could 
perform no duty but at the expense of humiliation. Her 
pride had mastered her principle, and her want of principle 
had prostrated her power and compromised her dignity. 
Mexico was indeed a subject of charity. And it is with sen- 
timents of profound satisfaction that we find she was so 
regarded by our government. 

We are not ignorant that opposite views have been fre- 
quently and earnestly advanced against the temper and objects 



108' THE REJECTED MISSION OF PEACE. 

of this mission, but we cannot withhold an expression of our 
amazement, that even partisans should permit themselves to 
be so blinded to the truth, and patriotic duty, as to be the will- 
ing instruments of deception in aiding to obscure what will in 
future time be regarded by the people of this country, and of 
other countries, one of the brightest pages of our national 
history. The Hon. Daniel Webster, in a speech delivered 
in Philadelphia, 1846, said, that " Mexico was wholly unjusti- 
fiable in refusing to receive our minister." In dwelling upon 
this mission, it is not so much our object to prove Mexico 
in the wrong, — which demands but few words to show, — as 
to exhibit the admirable spirit by which all the acts of our gov- 
ernment were dictated. The lesson is an instructive one. 

The proposition of our government was made in language 
that could not be mistaken. It was plain and directly to the 
point. The object was stated, the means for its accomplish- 
ment suggested. The communication of the secretary of state 
was before the government of Mexico, and our consul, in his 
communication to the minister of foreign relations, quoted 
verbatim the entire proposition, after having given it verbally. 
It was thrice repeated. The entire phraseology of the letter of 
Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Black shows but one purpose, and by no 
iTile of construction can that purpose be increased or lessened. 
Past relations were referred to, and asked to be restored — not 
in one thing, but in all things. An envoy to settle all disputes 
was proposed, and no allusion whatever was made to any 
agency upon a special subject. To accomplish such an end, a 
minister of the highest grade was requisite ; and if our govern- 
ment had done less by sending an agent of inferior rank, 
Mexico would indeed have had some cause of complaint. 

Admitting for a moment that such was the understanding of 
the Mexican government, that we v/ere to send a commissioner 
impowered to act upon one subject only, — this admission 
gives no relief to the position of the Mexican government 
whatever. It is a principle as clear in common sense and 
political economy as it is in mathematics, that the greater 



THE REJECTED MISSION OF PEACE. 109 

includes the lesser, and if the lesser be stipulated and the 
greater given, the variation must be viewed as a courtesy or a 
gain. Who would repel it ? Keverse the order, and who 
would not reject it ? This distinction is reduced to an axiom, 
and yet many affect to be ignorant of the principle in applica- 
tion. The error is admirably illustrated by a simple story, 
quaintly told somewhere, by Lord Jeff*rey. We give the sub- 
stance, but may not give the language of his lordship. 

A kind-hearted man had a large cat and a small kitten. He 
prepared a snug httle house for them both, making a large 
door for the cat and a small door for the kitten, not dreaming, 
in his simple philosophy, that the kitten, in its littleness, could 
follow the cat, in her amplitude, with more ease than if confined 
to an opening of its own dimensions, and that one door would 
have accommodated both ! 

We shall be excused, we doubt not, for introducing an ex- 
ample of such apparent insignificance to illustrate so grave a 
subject as the one under consideration. 

Our government opened with frankness its widest and largest 
door, and invited Mexico to enter, and with the spirit of con- 
ciliation to negotiate and to adjust all difficulties. But Mexico, 
hesitating and retiring, says, " No ! our dignity requires that 
we should enter no place so large. Our position through such 
a door might not be distinctly seen or understood. If you 
will close that large door, and open a small one, we will enter, 
but not otherwise." They would not have proposed even this, 
if they had not known that there was but one door in this case 
that could be opened, and that, too, in a building where all 
their accounts were kept, and which they had no desire to see. 
They would prefer the smallest door in any other place, than 
the largest door in the right place. Their necessity was made 
a plea for dignity. 

That the reply of the Mexican minister was confined to a 

commissioner different in capacity to the one proposed by our 

government, is a matter of no consequence, inasmuch as no 

difference was proposed or recognized. The proposition was 

10 



110 THE REJECTED MISSION OF PEACE. 

met, and no exceptions were made to it. If a language was 
employed of a limited sense with a motive to ulterior advantage 
not expressed, we have only to lament another instance of 
duplicity to be added to a catalogue already too long in the 
history of that nation. 

That the reception of our minister would be regarded as a 
restoration of all friendly relations between the two countries, 
was a singular and gratuitous assumption. The very terms of 
the appointment of a minister implied negotiation and adjust- 
ment, as the means of restoration, — ^not restoration itself. Could 
the effect precede the cause ? What nation would confound 
a treaty with the discussion of a treaty ? Is a minister less 
qualified to negotiate and adjust one question, because he is 
authorized to adjust all ? It is worse than idle to enlarge upon 
a distinction so puerile in itself, and so absurd in its application. 
It would be too much deference to an act that cannot claim 
the paternity of an honest judgment. Its authors made it 
with no honest purpose, and whoever attempts to defend the 
position, must do it at the expense of all rules of logic, and at 
the greater expense of reputation in the use of the powers of 
moral and intellectual discernment. There is no merchant, 
however deficient in system, that would employ an agent to 
settle a single item of a disputed account, leaving all others 
still to be adjusted by other agents. Why should our govern- 
ment be asked to adopt a method of business with nations that 
mdividuals would reject as insulting, if proposed to be adopted 
by them in their most ordinary concerns ? 

A debtor unprepared to pay is averse to all appointments 
with creditors. He will not decline them, for this would be 
folly, as his own interest might suffer by an act that would cost 
him nothing ; but, if he can see his way clear to avoid them, 
he counts it a most happy privilege. It was so with Mexico. 
She wished to call our nation to an account for its acts with 
another power, but she did not desire to render any account 
of her own acts in relation to us. She stood in a forced posi- 
tion as plaintiff in respect to Texas, but in other respects she 



THE REJECTED MISSION OF PEACE. Ill 

was a delinquent debtor to the United States, and an aggressor 
to an extent that was yet to be ascertained. She had no 
money, and no reliable means to command any. This was 
not the worst of her condition. The veiy existence of her 
government was doubtful, and her prospect was any thing but 
flattering for the future. Lifted up by pride and ambition, she 
gilded the skeleton of her body, with a seeming ignorance that 
her poverty was seen only in the want of its flesh. As a na- 
tion, she had not the spirit to discuss the interests which she 
could not sustain ; and, as a bankrupt, she had no heart to sit 
upon the adjustment of accounts she could not pay. Nothing 
would avail her but integrity, and of this she had less than of 
silver and gold. 

The Mexican minister was willing to express surprise that 
an envoy from the United States had arrived so soon ! " Who 
could it be ! What could it mean ! " Why did he not honestly 
express his fears, as he subsequently did, without this affecta- 
tion of ignorance, without a falsehood that he could not con- 
ceal } If he had re-perused the letter of Mr. Buchanan, pro- 
poshig to send a minister, he would have seen that the time 
was mentioned. It was — ^'- inwiediately ^ He was glad to 
see promptness in the withdrawal of our squadron, but it was 
unpleasant to him in any other respect. His whole course was 
one of abject subserviency to prevailing circumstances. He 
had not the courage to keep a secret, in the fear that his fel- 
lows in office might promulgate it in advance at his expense. 
He must hold one language to the council, another to our 
minister, and yet another to the people. He was opposed to 
all measures that threatened the stability of his influence, and 
in favor of all that promised to sustain it. The pride of con- 
sistency and truth was no part of his nature. He preferred 
success with disgrace to failure with honor. 

We grieve to be severe upon a man who does not appear to 
be conscious of his own degradation, but we can hardly repress 
our feelings of indignation when we look at the examples of 
duplicity in Mr. Peila y Pena, in his letters, addressed at the 



112 BOUNDARY OF TEXAS. 

same time, upon the same subjects, but with conflicting views, 
to Mr. Black, to Mr. Slidell, and to the council. It is proper 
that such acts should be pointed out and condemned, so that 
the inducements to wrong may be lessened, and the incite- 
ments to right increased. We now come to another important 
question. 

WAS THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT JUST TO MEXICO 
ON THE SUBJECT OF BOUNDARY. 

We have seen that our government was faithful and prompt 
in affording protection to Texas against foreign invasion ; we 
have contrasted the acts of favor of the United States with 
those of hostility on the part of Mexico ; and we now proceed 
to inquire whether the government of the United States, in 
striving to be just to Texas, has been just to Mexico, in regard 
to the boundary lines between the two countries. 

The boundaries of Texas were those secured by revolution. 
They were marked by the sword, and confirmed by possession. 
Her battles were fought by her own citizens, and with none 
but with the armies of Mexico. Her victories were at the 
expense of Mexico — strength measuring strength. Her inde- 
pendence was to the exclusion of Mexico, and self-established. 
Her government was organized, and endowed with vitality ; 
and Mexico lost all right there, by being unable to sustain it, 
and she lost all power within the limits of the State by with- 
drawing her forces. Texas stood acknowledged as one of 
the great family of nations. She had marked her own boun- 
dary hues ; and she had entire confidence in the justice of her 
claims to limits as they were defined in her statute-book. 

By the act of annexation, the question of boundary between 
Mexico and Texas was left an open one, to be decided by 
negotiation between the governments of Mexico and the United 
States. It was embraced in the instructions given to Mr. 
Slidell, but, as we have seen, it was not even considered. 

It became the first question with the government of the 



HOW IS TEXAS BOUNDED ? 113 

United States, when asked to give protection, — how far it 
should be extended. 

HOW IS TEXAS BOUNDED? 

It was not a question within its own control, to be decided 
according to its own interests or views.* There were two 
parties to be consulted. Texas had her rights, and so had 
Mexico. Texas made her claims, but Mexico disputed them. 
Mexico made no question with regard to boundary. Her claim 
was one of title and sovereignty.! The people of Texas were 
claimed to be the subjects of Mexico ; and the territory of 
Texas a part of her national domain, undivided and indivisible. 
In this posture of affairs what course could be safely pursued 
by the United States ? Mexico claimed the whole, and refused 
to negotiate. 

So far as the claim of Mexico was involved, the United 
States had decided it, by acknowledging the independence of 
Texas. Other nations had done the same. This question 
was indeed no longer open for discussion ; it had been settled. 
The supposed interest of Mexico remained at issue, to be 
adjusted whenever she was prepared to negotiate. The in- 
terest of Texas was defined in her own public acts, and she 
claimed her own rights as she had in her own sovereignty 
declared them. The government of the United States was 

* See Appendix Q. 

t In the letter of the Mexican commissioners to Mr. Trist, when 
negotiating for a treaty of peace, September 6, 1847, they say, — 

" The existing war has been undertaken solely on account of the 
territory of the State of Texas, respecting which the Nortli Ameri- 
can Republic presents as its title the act of the said State by which 
it was annexed to the North American confederation, after having 
proclaimed its independence of Mexico. The Mexican Republic 
offering (as we have informed your excellency) to consent, for a 
proper indemnification, to the pretensions of the government at 
Washington to the territory of Texas, the cause op the war has 
disappeared, and the war itself ought to cease." 
10* 



114 HOW IS TEXAS BOUNDED? 

the adjusting power between the two parties. Mexico refused 
to speak, and the boundary of Texas, as claimed by her own 
government and people, was the only one offered. Our right 
to fix the boundary was only by negotiation with Mexico, and 
that was declined. The government of the United States, 
therefore, had no alternative, but to defend the territory of 
Texas as claimed by her government.* 

But another question arose, and it has received much attention. 
It was one of supposition. It was asked, " Suppose Mexico were 
to give up Texas, and acknowledge her independence, to what 
boundary would she give her assent ? " Whatever may have 
been our opinions upon this question, nothing was more certain 
than that we had no authority to decide it. It was not for us to 
assume a position for Mexico which her government had posi- 
tively disclaimed. We had no right to sit in judgment upon a 
boundary question in w^hich her interest was involved without 
her consent. Mexico cannot have the privilege of two posi- 
tions in respect to the same interest. She must stand as claim- 
ing all Texas, or a part of Texas, but she must make her elec- 
tion which. She did, indeed, make her election, but her 
friends made a different one.t We insist that she shall speak 
for herself. No party has a right to speak for her, when her 



* " "Well, then, were the United States at liberty to surrender a 
portion of that territory ? Why, that would have been a flagrant 
violation of the implied contract which the joint resolutions of Con- 
gress had completed. Could the president of the United States 
take upon himself the responsibility of such an assumption as that 
Texas, after becoming one of the United States, had ceased to have 
her limits up to the E,io Grande ? He could not. And if he could 
not surrender any part of that territory, how could it be that this Avas 
the president's war ? " — Mr. Soule's Speech, U. S. Senate, February, 1847. 

t That Congress was reallij in favor of the advance of General Tay- 
lor to the Rio Grande, may be inferred from the votes of that body 
on the amendments offered by Mr. Holmes and by Mr. Delano. 
These were intended to be acts of censure or disapproval of the govern- 
ment in taking possession of territory beyond the Nueces. The former 
was rejected by a vote of 122 to 8 ; the latter by a vote of 97 to 27. 






HOW IS TEXAS BOUNDED? 115 

own acts have become a part of history.* If she claims all, 
as was the case, then the act on the part of the United States 
in sending troops to the Rio Grande was no more an act of 
hostility than if they had been sent to Galveston. The ques- 
tion to be decided by the United States was, so far as Mexico 
was concerned, whether troops should be sent to any part of 
Texas — not to what parts, for the same question was involved 
in regard to every part. It was impossible to conform to the 
requisition of Mexico, for it would have been in contradiction 
to our own acts, and to those of other countries with respect to 
Texas. It then remained that we should defend the boundary 
of Texas, and be true to that until we should have evidence 
that a different one was required by justice ; and hence it was 
left an open question by the act of annexation. 

No other position was tenable for Mexico. If she had 
adopted a policy for herself, similar to the one which her affect- 
ed friends have defended on her account, our government 
doubtless would have received a communication from Mexico, 
through Mr. Slidell, or Mr. Buchanan, something like the 
following : — ; 

" If we show that we can recover Texas, as we have sworn 
to try, then the United States have committed hostilities by 
marching troops into the first rod of that country. But, if we 
cannot recover Texas, then you have committed hostilities by 
marching troops to the Rio Grande ; for, if we cannot get all 
Texas, we shall claim a part, as if no revolution had taken 
place, and we had only to fix a friendly boundary. If, how- 
ever, Texas succeeds in defending the soil to the Rio Grande 
against us, then you have committed no acts of hostility at all. 

" What you do will be judged of entirely by what we are 
able to do. As our military power is not great, we think it 
would be an act of magnanimity on the part of the United 
States to permit us to continue hostilities if successful ; but if 
unsuccessful, to allow us to close all differences in a friendly 
way, as if no war had existed." 

* See Appendix K. 



116 HAS TEXAS A JUST CLAIM TO THE RIO GRANDE? 

This is a literal statement of the positions in which some of 
the friends of Mexico have placed her. Even Mexico would 
not consider itself much honored by such absurdity. 

But, as much argument has been based upon supposition in 
the controversy, we are ready to meet the question, 

HAS TEXAS A JUST CLAIM TO MAKE THE RIO GRANDE 

her boundary, by virtue of her revolution ? This boundary 
has always been claimed by Texas, according to settled prin- 
ciples of international law ; and, until Mexico can prove to the 
contrary, the United States are pledged to hold it sacred. 

We have made a quotation from a speech of the Hon. 
T. J. Rusk, U. S. senator from Texas,* which briefly and 
clearly gives evidence that the claim of Texas is a just 
one. There have been some able speeches upon this subject, 
made by members of Congress, and if we do not quote from 
them, it is because our limits forbid it. General Rusk was 
distinguished in the revolution of Texas, and he speaks from 
personal knowledge. Besides, there is a candor and simplicity 
in his remarks, which incline us to a feeling of confidence in 
his statements. 

The same power which made Texas free and independent 
of Mexico, claimed the Rio Grande as the boundary.! If 
the power was equal to title and sovereignty, was it not equal 
to a declaration of its boundary, admitting that she had no 

* See Appendix S. 

t In an article upon Texas, published in the Cincinnati Gazette, 
November, 1829, a writer, who professes a practical acquaintance 
with his subject, says, — 

*' The term Texas is usually understood to designate the whole 
tract of country lying between the south-western boundary of the 
United States and the River Rio Grande, alias, the Rio Bravo del 
Norte." 

Mr. Ward, once British charge d'affaires in Mexico, in his work on 
Mexico, says, " It is now seven years since the design of appropri- 
ating to themselves the fertile province, (Texas,) and thus extend- 
ing their frontier to the Rio Bravo del Norte, was first attributed to 






HAS TEXAS A JUST CLAIM TO THE RIO GRANDE. 117 

other claim ? When the independence of Texas was acknowl- 
edged by the' United States and by other nations, she had 
declared her boundary ; and if this had been considered an 
element as absolutely inconsistent with her claims to sov- 
ereignty, if it had been viewed as a gross infringement upon 
the rights of Mexico according to the laws of nations, it should 
have been noticed by these nations as a bar to their acknowl- 
edgment.* 

the United States," &c. This work was noticed by the National 
Intelligencer, October 21, 1829, under the following head : ** Pros- 
pect of the an7iexation of Texas to the U7iited States." 

In an article published in the New York Courier and Inquirer, 
November 8, 1834, on the boundary of Texas, in case of annexation, 
the writer says, ' ' What that boundary will ultimately be, it is imj)os- 
sible to say ; but it is so obviously the interest, both of Mexico and 
the United States, to make the Rio Grande the dividing line, that 
we do not doubt, sooner or later, that river will be fixed upon by the 
two governments." 

We give these extracts mainly for the purpose of showing the 
popular sentiment in regard to the boundary of Texas long before it 
became a party question, 

* This principle was recognized by the British government, in 
regard to a diiferent boundary, when called upon to acknowledge the 
independence of Texas. " While the Texan commissioner at the 
court of St. James was negotiating the acknowledgment of the inde- 
pendence of his country by England, Lord Palmerston called the 
attention of General Henderson, the Texan minister, to the extraor- 
dinary claim set up by the president of Texas, and objected to go on 
with the negotiation, lest the acknowledgment of the country might 
be construed to sanction its asserted claim to Northern Mexico and 
California. The commissioner replied, that he had no authority to 
commit his government on the question of boundary. Nevertheless, 
the independence of Texas was then acknowledged by the British 
government, and with full knowledge and admission by them of Presi- 
dent Lamar's claim. General Lamar, in his first message as president 
of the Republic of 'f "xas, claimed all the country lying west of Texas 
to the Pacific." — Gillia^n's Mexico, p. 388. If Lord Palmerston had 
foreseen the event of annexation, the independence of Texas, most 
likely, would not have been acknowledged by England at that time. 
Sec Appendix T. 



118 THE TREATY OF SANTA ANNA. 

The formal recognition of a new government is an important 
act, and involves important principles. These principles are 
entirely national in their character, and relate to the well-being 
of nations as such. Ephemeral governments would be national 
evils ; and governments of outrage would be national wrongs. 
Although one nation cannot determine for another nation its 
form of governm_ent, nor direct its foreign or internal policy, 
still, it has a right to require conformity to certain great prin- 
ciples of justice which make up the common law of nations. 
It may not be the right of a nation to demand such conformity 
of another, except when called upon to grant an act of recog- 
nition. This recognition should always be on the side of jus- 
tice and humanity — not according to the views of one nation, 
but of all nations that come within the sphere of civilization. 

The United States had agreed to take the title of Texas to 
sovereignty, and if this does not embrace rights as to its own 
boundary, it is inconsistent with itself. 

But with the spirit of equity let us examine 

THE TREATY OF SANTA ANNA,* 

which gives the Rio Grande as the true boundary between the 
two nations. 

This is said to be no treaty, because it was not ratified by 
the government of Mexico. In this respect it would bo 
defective as a treaty between two nations, if made under ordi- 
nary circumstances. The circumstances in this case, how- 
ever, were peculiar and extraordinary. 

1. Mexico was governed at that time by a military dictator, 
and he was, ex officio, commander-in-chief of the Mexican 
army. 

2. Under his command the army invaded Texas; was 
defeated and captured. 

3. Santa Anna, as commander-in-chief of the Mexican 
army, was a prisoner of war ; but as dictator of Mexico, he 

* See Appendix G. 



^ 



THE TREATY OF SANTA ANNA. 119 

fully represented the treaty-making power of his own govern- 
ment, — he Was, in fact, the government.* 

4. He proposed and urged a treaty, agreeing to all the stip- 
ulations required by Texas, and it was executed by himself as 
president of Mexico and by the chief officers of his army, — 
the second in command, Filisola, at the head of five or six 
thousand men, being at liberty to act his pleasure, to confirm 
the act of his commander or to reject it. He confirmed it, 
and the army and its officers were liberated. 

5. The president solemnly pledged himself to use his influ- 
ence with his government to ratify the treaty ; but he violated 
his promises, and by his government it was denounced and 
proclaimed as void, because, as was falsely alleged, it was 
extorted from their president while prisoner of war.t 

On the part of Texas, all the stipulations of the treaty were 
honorably fulfilled. The lives of the prisoners were saved, and 

* Vattel says, " The same power who has the right of making 
war, of determining on it, of declaring it, and of directing its oper- 
ations, has naturally that likewise of making and concluding a treaty 
of peace." 

t In his despatch to the government ad interim, dated June 10, 
1836, General Filisola, who was never a prisoner, says, — 

" His excellency, (Santa Anna,) in my humble opinion, in the trea- 
ties agreed upon, and that I had the honor to send to your excellency, 
acted with entire liberty, and nothing more in view than the interest 
of his country." 

Santa Anna, in his letter of July 4, 1836, says, — 

*' When I offered to treat with this government, (Texas,) I was 
convinced that it was useless for Mexico to continue the war. I 
have acquired exact information respecting the country, which I did 
not possess four months ago. I have too much zeal for the interests 
of my country to wish for any thing which is not compatible with 
them. Being always ready to sacrifice myself for its glory and ad- 
vantage, I never would have hesitated to subj ect myself to torments 
of death, rather than consent to any compromise, if Mexico could 
thereby obtain the slightest benefit. I am firmly convinced that it 
is proper to terminate this question by political negotiation." 

See the very able speech of Senator Johnson, (H. V.,) delivered in 
the TJ. S. Senate, January, 1848. 



120 THE TREATY OF SANTA ANNA. 

their persons liberated. All property taken was returned, and 
the Mexican army, unmolested, marched with its effects be- 
yond the Rio Grande. 

The end of law is justice between men, and between nations. 
The rights of nations are defined by law or by treaty. Both law 
and treaty are sustained by power. The law of the strongest 
is executed. Our views as to what constitutes the strength of 
a nation the reader will find in other chapters of. this work. 
The object of treaties is to supersede the frequent exercise of 
power in the adjustment of undefined rights, by embracing 
conditions applicable to the positive and probable wants and 
interests of the high contracting parties. 

As the peace of nations is preserved or disturbed according 
to the good or bad faith in which treaties are observed, they 
cannot be too solemnly regarded. Attempted fraud in a treaty 
should be met with universal reprobation. Its condemnation 
and consequent penalties should be commensurate with the 
great evils which it is calculated to produce, if successful. It 
would be a dangerous incitement to lessen the serious impor- 
tance of national compacts. Such compacts should be held 
as sacred as the flag of truce^ not to be counterfeited or 
violated with impunity. 

In this case, a counterfeit treaty was attempted by the presi- 
dent of Mexico and imposed upon Texas. It was honorable on 
the part of Texas, false on the part of Mexico. 

If Mexico deemed it just to renounce the treaty, her power 
should have reached the treason that sanctioned it. Its authors 
should have been tried as traitors, or returned to the confine- 
ment from which its conditions had freed them. The army 
of Mexico should have been marched back to Texas, to be re- 
surrendered to those who had been made the subjects of the 
treachery. It is a safer precedent to sanction such a treaty, 
under the circumstances, than to sanction its violation in the 
principal officers of the nation. It v/ould indeed be a precedent 
of the most dangerous tendency. 

If Mexico rejected the acts of her president, which involved 



THE TREATY OF SANTA ANNA. 121 

the safety of her army, there is no good reason why it should 
be done at the expense of Texas. 

It was eminently a treaty on the side of humanity. Mexico 
had murdered, by the orders of her government, the soldiers 
of Texas who had surrendered as prisoners of war ; and what 
would have been the measure of retaliation in this case, it is 
difficult to say. It unquestionably prevented much bloodshed 
and suffering. It may have saved the Mexican army and the 
chief magistrate of the Mexican nation from slaughter ; and 
shall it now be tolerated, either in theoiy or practice, that Mex- 
ico may gather her strength to massacre the Texans, at whose 
hands they . were permitted to live ? Shall Texas surrender 
the only considerations which Mexico gave, and which would 
have been ratified by the Mexican government, if Santa Anna 
and his troops had been held as securities ? or if Santa Anna 
and his officers had demanded it as necessary to their honor 
and integrity ? Never. To admit such a principle is against 
the best good of civilized nations ; to sanction it, an outrage 
upon humanity. 

If Mexico was false to the treaty, Texas could be true to 
herself. The same power that compelled terms was able to 
defend them.* The same power that humbled Santa Anna 
was able to punish his perfidy. Texas had her boundary lines 
marked by -the best blood of her citizens, and her energy was 
equal to her wants in the defence of her rights against 
Mexico. 

Let us examine how this subject was viewed by the govern- 
ment of the United States. It is with the sentiment of proud 

* Mr. Pillsbury, member of U. S. Congress, 1847, and long a resi- 
dent of Texas, in a speech before the house, says, — 

" That all attempts at maintaining Mexican posts east of the Rio 
Grande had been frustrated by the Texans, and the Mexicans driven 
west of the Rio Grande. No Mexican forces could maintain them- 
selves, as was frequently attempted ; all Texas would have rushed to 
arms to drive them back." 

See the excellent speech of the Hon. Mr. Norris, delivered before 
the house in February, 1847. 
11 



122 PRECAUTIONARY ACTS OF THE UNITED STATES. 

satisfaction that we find onr government, in respect to this 
matter, consistent from the beginning. Right at first, and 
right to the last. The boundary of Texas was taken as de- 
clared by that nation, and protected accordingly. Nothing 
else was proposed, nothing else would have been approved, by 
Texas. When annexation had been accomplished, orders were 
given amply to meet the case. Our government had no dis- 
cretion to exercise. Its duty had been marked by lines that 
could not be erased or altered, — it was imperative. Where 
but to the frontiers of a country should troops be ordered to 
protect its territory and to repel an invasion ? Should posses- 
sion be given that it might be regained ? Should outrages be 
permitted that they might be avenged ? Should life be ex- 
posed that it might realize the privileges of escape ? Should 
advantages be allowed to be seized that might compromise our 
rights ? Should our general government assume to act for 
Texas, and to disregard her sovereignty by recognizing new 
boundaries ? No such policy was conceived. No such policy 
was executed. No such policy would have been sustained by 
the people of our country.* Let ns examine the record, and 
see what were 



THE PRECAUTIONARY ACTS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERN- 
MENT. 

The president of the United States, in his message of Decem- 
ber, 1845, says, — 

" The moment the terms of annexation oifered by the 
United States were accepted by Texas, the latter became so 
far a part of our country, as to make it our duty to afford such 

* "We are happy to find that these positions arc ably sustained by 
a distinguished jurist of the U. S. Senate, the Hon. Reverdy Johnson, 
of Maryland. In some of his exceptions to the defence of the admin- 
istration, however, as corollaries from his own premises, we have 
a striking example of how a logician may be lost in the politician. 
His truths master his politics. 



OCCUPATION OF THE EIO GRANDE ADVISED. 123 

protection and defence," (against invasion.) " I therefore 
deemed it proper, as a precautionary measure, to order a strong 
squadron to the coasts of Mexico, and to concentrate a suffi- 
cient military force on the western frontier of Texas. Our 
army was ordered to take position in the country between the 
Nueces and the Rio del Norte, and to repel any invasion of 
the Texan territory which might be attempted by the Mexican 
forces." 

OCCUPATION ON THE RIO GRANDE ADVISED BY MR. DONELSON. 

Mr, Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, May 11, 1845. 

" It may be considered as certain the Congress of Texas, 
soon after the assemblage of the 16th of June, will accept our 
proposals, and call a convention for the purpose of carrying 
them into effect. Of course, if war be declared against us, 
Texas will be its theatre, and the earlier we are in possession 
of the commanding points on the Rio Grande, the sooner we 
shall be able to bring it to a close." 

TROOPS REQUESTED FOR THE PROTECTION OF TEXAS. 
Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, May 24, 1845. 

" As soon as the Texan government accepts our proposals, 
it will be proper, in compliance with the request already com- 
municated to you, to send our troops to the frontier." 

SOLICITUDE OF TEXAS WITH REGARD TO MEANS OF DEFENCE. 
Mr. Allen to Mr. Donelson, May 19, 1845. 

" The undersigned deems it his duty respectfully to 
inquire of Mr. Donelson, whether, under such circumstances, 
(of threatened invasion,) calculated to excite the reasonable 
apprehensions of the people of Texas, and especially to dis- 
turb the tranquillity of the settlements along her western fron- 
tiers, it would not be alike proper and consistent for the United 
States to extend its protection to this people." 



124 THE RIO GRANDE THE BOUNDARY OF TEXAS. 



DEFENCE OF TEXAS ORDERED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE 

UNITED STATES. 

Secretmy of War to General Taylor, May 28, 1845. 

" Should the territories of Texas be invaded by a foreign 
power, and you shall receive certain intelligence through her 
functionaries of the fact, after her convention shall have 
acceded to the terms of annexation contained in the resolu- 
tion of the Congress of the United States, you will at once 
employ, in the most effective manner your judgment may 
dictate, the forces under your command, for the defence of 
these territories, and to expel the invaders." 

Here was an order to General Taylor " to expel the inva- 
ders^'''' if notified to do so by the '-'- functionaries " of Texas. 
We need not add, that if the Mexican troops had crossed the 
Rio Grande, the notice would have been given, and General 
Taylor would have executed the order. 

POSTS SUGGESTED ON THE RIO GRANDE. 
Mr. Donehon to Mr. Buchanan^ June 2, 1845. 

"It is believed that Mexico is concentrating troops on the 
Rio Grande, where Texas has as yet established no posts. If 
this be so, it is possible that Texas may send a force there to 
remove intruders. But such a movement, if made, will be 
independent of the United States." 

This shows the determination of Texas, that she was unwil- 
ling to leave her boundary unprotected, if threatened, even for 
a few days, or until the act of annexation should be accom- 
plished. 

THE RIO GRANDE RECOGNIZED AS THE BOUNDARY OF TEXAS. 

Mr. Bancroft, acting Secretary of War, to General Taylor, 
June 15, 1845. 

"The point of your ultimate destination is the western 
frontier of Texas, where you will select and occupy, on or 



POSTS ON THE RIO GRANDE ADVISED BY TEXAS. 125 

near the Rio Grande del Norte, such a site as will consist 
with the health of the troops, and will be best adapted to repel 
invasion, and to protect, in the event of annexation, what will 
be our western border." 

Mr. Donelson to Captain Stockton, June 22, 1845. 

"Your cooperation with our land troops I should think 
sufficient, (in case of war with Mexico,) without much aid 
from Texas herself, to drive the Mexican arms west of the 
Rio Grande." 

THE RIO GRANDE QUESTION ANTICIPATED. 
Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, June 23, 1845. 

" It is the policy of those who are on the side of Mexico in 
the present crisis to throw upon the United States the respon- 
sibihty of a war for the country between the Nueces and the 
Rio Grande. That territory, you are aware, has been in 
possession of both parties." 

Regarding this point, in a letter to Mr. Buchanan, dated 
July 11, 1845, Mr. Donelson says, — 

" Texas has at pleasure taken possession of her posts there, 
and has only suspended jurisdiction because it was inconve- 
nient to maintain it, and because she knew that in a short 
period her resumption of it would be acquiesced in by the 
inhabitants, if they were assured of protection." 

POSTS ON THE RIO GRANDE ADVISED BY TEXAS. 

Mr. Allen to Mr. Donelson, June 26, 1845. 

" The undersigned would suggest to Mr. Donelson the 
propriety and necessity of an immediate introduction of the 
troops referred to, (U. S.,) and that they proceed at once to 
occupy positions upon the Rio Grande, and at other points of 
the frontier, without waiting for the action of the convention 
relative to the measure of annexation." 



136 PKOTECTION TO TEXAS BY OUR GOVERNMENT. 

PRUDENTIAL SUGGESTIONS WITH REGARD TO THE USE OF FORCE. 

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, July 6, 1845. 

" You are already advised of my letter to General Taylor 
of the 28th ultimo, in which I leave the question of marching 
to the Rio Grande to be decided by developments yet to be 
made. If Mexico passes that stream, menacing Texas, or 
otherwise threatening to disturb the territory of Texas, as it 
stood when our joint resolution passed, our right to repel her 
commences, and we may force her to retire west of the Rio' 
Grande." 

Mr. Donelson to General Taylor^ July 7, 1845. 

"In this event (of war) a bold movement on the Rio 
Grande would be justified as the one best calculated to give 
general security to the frontier of Texas, and take from the 
enemy his power to injure us." 

IF PEACE MEASURES FAIL, WAR JUSTIFIABLE. 

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Buchanan, July 11, 1845. 

"If Mexico undertakes the invasion, &c., Texas would 

have the immediate right, and so will the United States, to 

repel the invasion ; and in doing so, Mexico may be disarmed 

by the occupation of the Rio Grande by our troops," &c. 

ENTIRE PROTECTION TO TEXAS ENFORCED BY THE UNITED 

STATES GOVERNMENT. 

Secretary of War to General Taylor, July 30, 1845. 
" While avoiding, as you have been instructed to do, all 
aggressive measures towards Mexico, as long as the relations 
of peace exist between that Republic and the United States, 
you are expected to occupy, protect, and defend the territory 
of Texas to the extent that it has been occupied by the people 
of Texas. The Rio Grande is claimed to be the boundary 



FRONTIER POSTS TO BE ESTABLISHED. 127 

between the two countries, and up to this boundary you are to 
extend your protection," &c. 

MEXICANS TO BE DRIVEN BEYOND THE RIO GRANDE IN CASE 

OF INVASION, 

Mr. Donelson to Mr. Alleii, August 5, 1845. 

" If, however, contrary to present appearances, this invasion 
should be made by a larger force than would be prudent for 
the present United States troops to repel alone, the undersigned 
doubts not that the patriotism of the president of Texas will 
call into the field such additional aid from the Texas militia as 
will at once drive the Mexicans beyond the Rio Grande, and 
give security to the frontier." 

FRONTIER POSTS TO BE ESTABLISHED BY GENERAL TAYLOR, 
AIDED BY TEXAS. 
General Taylor to Atison Jones, Presidetii of Texas, August 16, 1845. 

" When our relations with Mexico, and the state of the ser- 
vice in this quarter, shall permit my absence, I will take great 
pleasure in proceeding to the seat of government, and confer- 
ring with you personally in relation to the proper dispositions to 
be made for the permanent occupation of the frontier." 

VIGILANCE OF GENERAL TAYLOR IN PROTECTING THE BOUND- 
ARY TO THE RIO GRANDE. 
General Taylor to Adjutant- General Jones, August 20, 1845. 

" I still deem it my duty to look to the possibility of such an 
event, (crossing of the Rio Grande by the Mexican troops,) and 
to prepare for a forward movement, should circumstances 
require it." 

CROSSING OF THE RIO GRANDE BY THE MEXICANS TO BE 

CONSIDERED AS THE COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. 

Secretary of War to General Taylor, August 23, 1845. 

" Should Mexico declare war, or commence hostilities by 

crossing the Rio Grande with a considerable force, you are 



128 SOLICITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. 

instructed to lose no time in giving information to the authorities 
of each or any of the above-mentioned States, as to the num- 
ber of volunteers you may want from them respectively.'" 

* * * " Such a movement (crossing the Rio Grande by 
the Mexicans) must be regarded as an invasion of the United 
States, and the commencement of hostilities." 

In a letter from Adjutant-General Jones to General Taylor, 
dated August 26, 1845, he requests him to " keep the depart- 
ment advised of the state of the service on the Texan frontiers." 
An inspection of General Taylor's letters subsequent to this 
order will show how strictly he conformed to its requisitions. 
In almost every letter before the commencement of hostilities, 
he speaks of news, or the want of news, from the Rio 
Grande. 

SOLICITUDE OF THE U. S. GOVERNMENT THAT TEXAS SHOULD 

BE PROTECTED TO THE RIO GRANDE. 

Secretary of War to General Taylor, August 30, 1845. 

" Instructions heretofore issued enjoin upon you to defend 
Texas from invasion and Indian hostilities ; and, should Mex- 
ico invade it, you will employ all your forces to repulse the 
invaders, and drive all Mexican troops beyond the Rio Grande." 

* * * u ^jj attempt to cross that river (Rio Grande) with 
such a (large) force will also be considered in the same 
light," (as the commencement of hostilities.) 

NO BOUNDARY THOUGHT OF BY GENERAL TAYLOR BUT THE RIO 
GRANDE. 

General Taylor to Adjtdatit- Getieral Joties, September 14, 1845. 

" The commander of the rangers at San Antonio, Major 
Hays, has reputation as a partisan, and to him I have specially 
intrusted the duty of keeping me advised of any movements 
on the Rio Grande." 



LETTER OF ADVICE OF GENERAL TAYLOR. 129 



LETTER OF ADVICE OF GENERAL TAYLOR TO ADVANCE TO THE 

RIO GRANDE. 

Genercd Taylor to Adjutant- Ge7ieralJones, October 4, 1845. 

''It is with great deference that I make any suggestions on 
topics which may become matter of delicate negotiation; 
but if our government, in settling the question of boundary, 
makes the line of the Eio Grande an ultimatum, I cannot 
doubt that the settlement will be greatly facilitated and has- 
tened by our taking possession at once of one or two suitable 
points on or quite near that river. Our strength and state of 
preparations should be displayed in a manner not to be mis- 
taken. However salutary may be the effect upon the border 
people by our presence here, we are too far from the frontier 
to impress the government of Mexico with our readiness to 
vindicate, by force of arms if necessary, our title to the coun- 
try as far as the Rio Grande." 

This advice of General Taylor proceeded from no new 
manifestations on the part of Mexico, for, in the same letter he 
says, that Mexico had committed " no overt act of hostilities ;" 
and that he " does not conceive that it will become necessary, 
under any circumstances^ to call for volunteers from the United 
States.'''' Indications, indeed, appeared to be favorable to 
peace, but peace without promptitude. Although the advice 
was characterized by good judgment, and was in confirmation 
of its own views, still, the government was slow to adopt it. 
It was made in ignorance of the mission of Mr. Slidell, and 
wholly with the view to move the government of Mexico to 
prompt and decisive action. It is certainly not a little remark- 
able, that, when it was adopted by the government of the 
United States, — more than three months afterwards, — it was 
adopted with similar motives. 

" On the 5th of November, General Taylor received a let- 
ter from Commodore Conner, from which we make the follow- 
ing extract. It was dated, off Vera Cruz, October 24, 1845. 

" I hasten to inform you that the Mexican government has 



130 LETTER OF ADVICE OF GENERAL TAYLOR. 

accepted the proposal made by that of our country, to arrange 
the existing difficulties by negotiation. I deem it advisable you 
should be thus early apprised of this change in the state of our 
relations." 

This information, communicated by Commodore Conner, led 
General Taylor very properly to make what might be termed, 
not a modification, but a suggestive modification, of his advice, 
under date of October 4 ; that is, he submitted his views, to be 
qualified as circumstances might require. He was evidently of 
the opinion, however, that a forward march movement was the 
true one, as promising the best results ; still, he was willing to 
wait, PROVIDED Mexico did not show a disposition to protract 
negotiations unreasonahly. That he had but little confidence in 
negotiation, and that he was looking to the execution of future 
duties to Texas, may be inferred from the whole language of 
his modification, and from the fact which he reports in the 
same letter, " that reconnoisances are almost constantly in the 
field^"" and, as he says in his previous letter, (October 4,) in 
the direction of the Rio Grande. 

The good sense of General Taylor with regard to position was 
in perfect harmony with the views of his government. Our 
rights were to be protected with firmness, but with all possible 
delicacy towards a weaker Republic. General Taylor was 
not only in favor of prompt action, but he advised and expected 
it. In the letter which we are noticing, (November 7,) he 
says, " On the hypothesis of an early adjustment of the boun- 
dary, and the consequent establishment of permanent frontier 
posts, I cannot urge too strongly upon the government the 
necessity of occupying those posts before the warm weather 
shall set in." 

The modification of his letter of October 4, is given in the 
following extract : — 

" The intelligence from Mexico, however, tends to modify, 
in some degree, the views expressed in that communication. 
The position now occupied by the troops may, perhaps, be the 
best while negotiations are pending, or, at any rate, until a 



^ 



DISCRETIONARY TOWER GIVEN TO GEN. TAYLOR. 131 

disposition shall be manifested by Mexico to protract them un- 
reasonably. Under the supposition that such may be the view 
of the department, I shall make no movement from this point, 
except for the purpose of examining the country, until further 
instructions are received." 

Frequent allusions have been made to these letters for party 
purposes, as if harmony was an evidence of discord. Coin- 
cidence of opinion, not of contrariety, is evidence of good 
judgment. It must be gratifying both to General Taylor and to 
the government, that, in a policy which has been so much 
questioned from party motives, there was unanimity of opinion 
and harmony of action. Both acted from similar motives, and 
both were right. 

DISCRETIONARY POWER GIVEN TO GENERAL TAYLOR BY HIS 

GOVERNMENT. 

Secretary of War to General Taylor ^ October 16, 1845. 

" The information which we have here renders it probable 
that no serious attempts will at present be made by Mexico to 
invade Texas, although she continues to threaten incursions. 
Previous instructions will have put you in possession of the 
views of the government of the United States, not only as to 
the extent of its territorial claims, but of its determination to 
assert them. In carrying out these instructions, you will be 
left very much to your own judgment, by reason of your supe- 
rior knowledge of localities, and the earlier notice you may 
receive of the probable views of Mexico and the movement 
of her troops." 

The letter of Mr. Slidell, of December 17, to Mr. Buchanan, 
was received at the state department on the 12th of January. 
This letter furnished so much evidence of a disposition to 
trifle, on the part of Mexico, and, taken in connection with 
views previously adopted and the advice of General Taylor, 
determined the government of the United States upon decisive 
measures, and the following order was given. 



132 GENERAL TAYLOR ORDERED TO ADVANCE. 

GENERAL TAYLOR ORDERED TO ADVANCE TO THE RIO GRANDE. 
Secretary of War to General Taylor, January 13, 1846. 

" I am directed by the president to instruct you to advance 
and occupy, with the troops under your command, positions on 
or near the east bank of the Rio del Norte, as soon as it can 
be conveniently done with reference to the season and the 
routes by which your movements must be made. 

" It is not designed, in our present relation with Mexico, 
that you should treat her as an enemy." 

Nothing but the spirit of peace and of courtesy prevented 
this movement before. Without any regard to boundary ques- 
tions, our government was very reluctant to sanction any 
military movements, not absolutely necessary, which might 
excite Mexico to commit further acts of imprudence. In the 
letter of the secretary of state to Mr. Slidell, under date of 
January 20, this order is alluded to, and its necessity explained. 
We recommend to the reader a perusal of the entire letter. 
Mr. Buchanan says, — 

" In the mean time, the president, in anticipation of the final 
refusal of the Mexican government to receive you, has ordered 
the army of Texas to advance and take position on the left 
bank of the Rio Grande ; and has directed that a strong fleet 
shall be immediately assembled in the Gulf of Mexico. He 
will thus be prepared to act with vigor and promptitude the 
moment that Congress shall give him the authority." 



OPINION OF GENERAL TAYLOR, COMMENDING THE ORDER OF 
JANUARY 13. 

In regard to this order, under date of February 4, 1846, 
General Taylor says, — 

" Our advance to the Rio Grande will itself produce a pow- 
erful effect, and it may be that the common navigation of the 
river will not be disputed. It is very important to us, anil w ill 



RIO GKANDE NOT TO BE CROSSED. 133 

be indispensable when posts are established higher up, as must 
ultimately bd the case.'''' 

OPINION OF MR. SLIDELL, COMMENDING THE ORDER OF 
JANUARY 13. 

In a letter to the secretary of state, dated Februaiy 17, 
1846, Mr. Slidell says, — 

" The advance of General Taylor's force to the left bank 
of the Rio del Norte, and the strengthening of our force in the 
Gulf, are wise measures, which may exercise a salutary influ- 
ence upon the course of this government." 

It would be presumption in us formally to sanction an act 
which needs no defence not to be found in its own history. 
This order was originated in no new policy ; it had been long 
deferred, and it was now considered judicious and necessary 
by all who had the best means of knowing the exact relations 
between the two countries. 

GENERAL TAYLOR ANTICIPATES NO RESISTANCE IN HIS 

ADVANCE. 

General Tat/lor to Adjuia7it- General Jones, Feb. 16, 1846. 

" From the best information I am able to obtain, and which 
I deem as authentic as any, I do not believe that our advance 
to the banks of the Rio Grande will be resisted. The army, 
however, will go fully prepared for a state of hostilities, should 
they unfortunately be provoked by the Mexicans." 

RIO GRANDE NOT TO BE CROSSED BY AMERICAN TROOPS UNLESS 
ATTACKED. 

Ge7t. Taylor to Adjutant- Getieral Jones, Corpus Christi, Feb. 26, 1846. 

" I have taken occasion to represent to some citizens of 
Matamoras, who were here with a large number of mules for 
sale, and who are represented to have considerable influ- 
ence at home, that the United States government, in occupy- 
ing the Rio Grande, has no motive of hostility towards Mexico, 
12 



134 HOSTILITY ON THE PART OF MEXICO. 

and that the army will, in no case, go beyond the river, unless 
hostilities should be commenced by the Mexicans them- 
selves," &;c. 

DECIDED HOSTILITY ON THE PART OF THE MEXICANS. 
Gen. Taylor to Adjutant- General Jo7ies, Point Isabel, March 25, 1846. 

In this despatch. General Taylor says, that there were no 
incidents in the march of the army to Point Isabel worthy of 
notice, unless the following examples may be regarded as the 
first evidence of open hostility. He says, — 

" While on my way hither, our column was approached by 
a party on its right flank, bearing a white flag. It proved to 
be a civil deputation from Matamoras, desiring an interview 
with me. I informed them that I would halt at the first suita- 
ble place on the road, and afford them the desired interview. 
It was, however, found necessary, from the want of water, to 
continue the route to this place. The deputation halted while 
some miles from Point Isabel, declining to come further, and 
sent me a formal protest of the prefect of the northern district 
of Tamaulipas, against our occupation of the country, which 
I enclose herewith. At this moment, it was discovered that 
the buildings at Point Isabel were in flames. I then informed 
the bearer of the protest that I would answer it when opposite 
Matamoras, and dismissed the deputation. I considered the 
conflagration before my eyes as a decided evidence of hos- 
tility, and was not willing to be trifled with any longer, partic- 
ularly as I had reason to believe that the prefect, in making 
this protest, was but a tool of the military authorities at 
Matamoras." 

OCCUPATION OF THE LEFT BANK OF THE RIO GRANDE. 
General Taylor to Adjutant- Geyieral Jones, March 29, 1846. 
" I have the honor to report, that I arrived at this camp yes- 
terday, with forces under my command, no resistance hav- 
ing been oflered to my advance to the banks of the river, nor 



HOSTILE ATTITUDE OF MEXICO. 135 

act of hostility committed by the Mexicans, except the capture 
of two of Our dragoons, sent forward from the advanced 
guard.* * * # 

" Our approach seems to have created much excitement in 
Matamoras, and a great deal of activity has been displayed 
since our arrival in the preparation of batteries. The left 
bank is now under reconnoisance of our engineer officers, and 
I shall lose no time in strengthening our position by such 
defensive works as may be necessary, employing for that 
purpose a portion of the heavy guns brought round by sea. 

" The attitude of the Mexicans is so far decidedly hostile. 
An interview has been held, by my direction, with the military 
authorities of Matamoras, but with no satisfactory result." 

HOSTILE ATTITUDE OF THE MEXICANS BATTERY ERECTED 

BY GENERAL TAYLOR. 
General Taylor to Adjuta7ii-Ge?ieral Jones, April 6, 1846. 

" The Mexicans still retain a hostile attitude, and have 
thrown up some works, evidently designed to prevent us from 
crossing the river. * * * 

" On our side, a battery for four 18-pounders will be com- 
pleted, and the guns placed in battery to-day. These guns 
bear directly upon the public square of Matamoras, and within 
good range for demolishing the town. Their object cannot b.e 
mistaken, and will, I think, effectually restrain him from any 
enterprise upon our side of the river. A bastioned field-fort, for 
a ganison of five hundred men, has been laid out by engineers 
in rear of the battery, and will be commenced immediately. 

" I respectfully enclose the minutes of an interview held on 
the day of our arrival, between General Worth and General 
De la Vega, the second in command in Matamoras. f I 
deemed it proper and respectful to announce formally the 
purpose of our advance to the Rio Grande, and afford an 
opportunity to establish friendly relations if practicable." 

* These dragoons were subsequently returned, on application of 
General Taylor, 
t See Appendix U. 



136 COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES BY MEXICO. 



GENERAL TAYLOR SUMMONED BY AMPUDIA TO WITHDRAW 

BEYOND THE NUECES. 

General Taylor to Adjutant- General Jozies, Aiyril 15, 1846. 

" I have to report that on the 1 1th instant, General Ampudia 
arrived at Matamoras with two hundred cavalry, the remainder 
of his force, variously estimated from two thousand to three 
thousand men, being some distance in rear on route from 
Monterey. Immediately after assuming the chief command, 
General Ampudia ordered all Americans to leave Matamoras 
within twenty-four hours, and repair to Victoria, a town in the 
interior of Tamaulipas. He had taken the same severe meas- 
ure at Reinosa, on his way hither. On the 12th, I received 
from General Ampudia a despatch, summoning me to with- 
draw my force within twenty-four hours, and to fall back be- 
yond the river Nueces. To his communication I replied, on 
the 12th, saying that I should not retrdgrade from my position. 
Copies of this correspondence are enclosed herewith.* I con- 
sidered the letter of General Ampudia sufficient to warrant 
me in blocking up the Rio Grande, and stopping all supplies 
for Matamoras ; orders for which have been given to the naval 
commander at Brasos Santiago." 

COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES BY MEXICO. 
Ge?ieral Taylor to Adjutant- General Jones, April 26, 1846. 

" I regret to report that a party of dragoons, sent out by me 
on the 24th instant, to watch the course of the river above on 
this bank, became engaged with a very large force of the 
enemy, and, after a short affair, in which some sixteen were 
killed and wounded, appear to have been surrounded and 
compelled to surrender. Not one of the party has returned, 
except a wounded man sent in this morning by the Mexican 
commander, so that I cannot report with confidence the par- 

* See Appendix V. 



COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES BY MEXICO. 137 

ticulars of the engagement, or the fate of the officers, except 
that Captaui Hardee was known to be a prisoner, and unhurt. 
The party was sixty-three strong. 

" Hostilities may now be considered as commenced, and I 
have this day deemed it necessary to call upon the govern- 
ment of Texas for four regiments of volunteers, two to be 
mounted and two to serve on foot. As some delay must occur 
in collecting these troops, I have also desired the governor of 
Louisiana to send out four regiments of infantry as soon as 
practicable. This will constitute an auxiliary force of nearly 
five thousand men, which will be required to prosecute the war 
with energy, and carry it, as it should be into the enemy's 
country." 

Thus we have seen that the course of our government with 
respect to the boundary question has been consistent from the 
period of the annexation of Texas, even to the time of the 
first act of hostility on the part of Mexico, of which Congress 
was immediately notified by the president of the United States. 
In a special message. May 11, 1846, he says, — 

" As war exists, and, notwithstanding our efibrts to avoid it, 
exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by 
every consideration of duty and patriotism, to vindicate with 
decision, the honor, the rights, and the interests of our 
country." * 

* When the sum of $10,000,000, and an army of 50,000 men, were 
authorized by almost an unanimous vote of Congress, (only 14 voting 
in the negative,) not a word was said about the march to the Rio 
Grande. The question was one of fact with regard to the commence- 
ment of hostilities. The objections to that bill were confined to the 
preamble — which declared that war existed by the act of Mexico. In 
a speech delivered in the IT. S. Senate, February, 1848, by Mr. Tur- 
ney, he says, " A motion was made to strike out the preamble, and 
reasons were assigned for striking it out, hut no such reason as that we 
had invaded the Mexican territory. Far from it, as I will be able to 
show, conclusively, from the documents. The reason assigned was, 
the uncertainty as to the fact whether war did, in point of fact, 
exist." 

The objections to the preamble were singular and extraordinary. 
12* 



138 COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILTTIES BY MEXICO, 

Both nations professed peace and protested against all 
motives leading to hostility. Let facts determine which was 
sincere in its professions. We have seen with what justice 
the boundaiy to the Rio Grande was claimed by Texas, and 
that no alternative was left to the United States but to defend 
that boundary. Mexico refused to negotiate. Although she 
claimed title to all Texas, she was committed to acts of hos- 
tility, and was ready to commence war, in relation to a ques- 
tion of boundary ! She claimed the whole, but she preferred 
war to negotiation, to settle her title even to a part. 

We should do the public injustice, if we were to give our 
views upon this portion of the subject to the exclusion of those 
of General Taylor, in his able communication, in reply to 
General Ampudia, which we insert in the Appendix.* In this, 
the true merits of both parties are clearly and briefly stated. 
The spirit of hostility on the part of Mexico is contrasted with 
the pacific measures of the United States. The assertion of 
the president, that " war exists by the act of Mexico," is a 
truth so fully confirmed by history that he who doubts is 
doomed to a record that time can never redeem. It is not 
that this act was the cause of the war, but that Mexico, having 
made war necessary by her acts, was left to be consistent 

If objections had been made to the whole bill, members, urging them, 
might have found a defence in their consciences. But their position, 
as opposed to the preamble, is truly a most awkward one. It was 
equivalent to a confession that they were more willing to vote means 
for prosecuting a war against Mexico, without any positive declar- 
ation of basis, than admit the statement of General Taylor to be a fact. 
Their love for history was greater than their love for justice. If they 
believed the war commenced by the president of the United States, 
they also professed to believe that he had commenced it " unconstitu- 
tionally," and this renders their case still worse. They were ready to 
vote for an "unconstitutional war," in preference to adopting the fact, as 
given by General Taylor, that the war was commenced by the act of 
Mexico ! We cannot well avoid thinking of the gnat and camel, as- 
spoken of in the gospel of St. Matthew. f 

* See Appendix. f Chap, xxiii. 24. 



MILITARY POWER. 139^ 

in her career of folly and crime — and to strike the first blow. 
She commenced what proved to be her own chastisement, by 
the hand of another power. She was the sole cause, and, in 
the hands of Providence, the sole subject of the war, and 
the United States government was the agent for its merited 
infliction. 

PROSECUTION OF THE WAR. 

MILITARY POWER. 

The military power of a country is generally estimated 
according to the number of soldiers that makes up its standing 
army. This number varies, as the supposed interests of a 
nation require, and is large or small, according to the confi- 
dence which a government has in itself. A large army always 
implies doubt in the government as to its hold upon the affec- 
tions of the people, and of its ability to control them. Armies 
increase as governments become selfish or imjust, and though 
the decrease is not always in the same ratio with governments 
of an opposite character, still, the diminution is seen to take 
place as the result of liberal measures. Much must be 
allowed to the conservative principle of government anciently 
termed " the divine right of kings,'''' and to those countless 
habits and prejudices which become associated with all the 
joys of a people, as well as with their hardships and suffer- 
ings. The people are slow to change. It is not in their 
nature to change suddenly, and remain permanent. They 
become attached even to a form of government that may deny 
them liberty of thought and of speech ; but, if that government 
yields to a small proportion of their requisitions, they remain 
loyal, grateful, and content. A monarch may hold his power 
if he will but keep in advance of his subjects in measures of 
reform. To refuse reforms, and hope to be secure in a stand- 
ing army, is a great error. That this may be true for a limited 
period, no one will deny. When we speak of success in a 
nation, we refer to its generations. We measure the progress 



140 MILITARY POWER. 

of man, as an individual, by his years or generations ; the 
progress of a nation, by its periods of great causative events, 
or by its centuries. 

The recent events of France illustrate the actual power of 
a standing army in a country where intelligence and educa- 
tion are beginning to reach the people, and where love of 
freedom has only been defeated for the want of knowledge.* 
First comes the desire for change, and then the ability. The 
French have been in a transition state for a long period of 
time. Every revolution shows an advance, and the period is 
not far distant when we shall see her strength equal to the 
glory of a republic. The newly-fledged eagle falls from 
branch to branch in its first attempts to fly, and every fall is 
marked by a period of rest. But the parent birds encourage 
its efforts by example, while its instinct unceasingly tempts it 
forward in its flights, and from the humble distances of the 
forest-cluster of its home, it soon is able to sweep its circles in 
the regions of the sky. 

It is thus with natioriS, destined to life and change. 
Change is but another word for growth or progress. Every 
change is a step forward, and every step gives new strength. 
We mean the progress of condition, of capacity, of power. 
A monarchy may become a republic, and the republic may 
not succeed, and the monarchy may be restored. This is 
merely the conventional process. Every attempt is a prepar- 
ation, every revolution a step. In the breaking up of power, 
the monarchy may seize a temporary defence, but the ultimate 
• republic is inevitable. 

Louis Phillippe was too slow for his people. Guizot was too 
precise in his scale of advance. The former had confidence 
in the latter, and the latter had confidence in science. Both 
seemed to lose sight of the fact, that while they were watching 



* The Mexicans " say, that they are obliged to have a standing 
army, and that they can only enforce their laws by the grace of God 
and gimpowder." — II071. P. Thomjison. 



MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES. 141 

for changes in the people, they did not count upon changes 
in the army. Armies are made up of men ; and though they 
are excluded in some degree from the benefits of an advan- 
cing society, and may be slow to appreciate their rights as citi- 
zens, still they have begun to think.* Thought is the great 
source of power, and in this we may find the power of the 
United States — in the capacity of the people to think. Right 
thinking is knowledge, and knowledge is power. But where 
is the 

MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES ? 

If a stranger were to visit this country, he would be at a loss 
to find, in form, its military power. He would see no castles 
of defiance, no towns encircled by turretted walls ; he would 
see no palaces, v/ith their lords and dependent tenantry. He 
would see no display of royalty, with its cortege of coun- 
sellors, outriders, and guard. He would find no army, with its 
trappings, to admire ; no national parade of strength, to awe. 
But, in our great cities he would see industry without embar- 
rassment, activity without disorder, excitement without riot, 
and security without fear ; and all without an army near, or a 
soldier's guard. 

If he were to go to the capital, he would there see the rep- 
resentatives of the people, of every profession, boldly defend- 
ing the right and denouncing the wrong, in the business of 
legislation. He would see the chief magistrate of the nation 



* In speaking of the Plymouth rock, De Tocqueville makes the 
following beautiful reflection : — 

" This rock is become an object of veneration in the United States. 
I have seen bits of it carefully preserved in several towns of the 
Union. Does not this sufficiently show how entirely all human 
power and greatness is in the soul of man ? Here is a stone, which 
the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an instant, and this stone 
becomes famous ; it is treasured by a great nation ; its very dust is 
shared as a relic ; and what is become of the gateways of a thousand 



142 MILITARY POWER OF THE UNITED STATES. 

in the plainest garb of the humble citizen, and his advisers, 
unattended, mingling with the crowd, courteous to all, and indif- 
ferent to none. But he would see no army near, and at the 
doors and gates of the public buildings would find no sentinels. 
He would hear of our government, but he could not see its 
vast machinery. He would hear of our great power, but he 
could not understand its form, unless he should visit the people 
at their homes and firesides. He would find nothing wanting 
to protection, to liberty, or to life, and yet he would find no 
army. 

The army of the United States, in times of peace, does not 
often exceed 7,000 men.* These men, scattered over a vast 
territory, are hardly to be perceived by the traveller, or noticed 
by our citizens. And yet, when required to act in their coun- 
try's defence, they make the nucleus of an army of any extent, 
and of the greatest power. 

With a military academy, directed by the ablest professors, 
and liberally sustained by government, the country secures a 
class of officers of the highest attainments in science, and 
of the greatest skill in practice. In time of war, around these 
officers the assembled people of the country become the army 
of the nation — the nation's defence. When peace returns, they 
scatter to their homes, and resume their accustomed labors, 
and the soldier again becomes the citizen. 

The military power of the United States is as broad as the 
continent to which it belongs, and its basis is in the hearts of 
the people. It is not physical, but moral power. It is not for 
the defence of a government, but of a people. It is not for the 
few, but for all. It is not for others, but for ourselves. It is 
not for conquest, but for justice. It is not for ambition, but for 
protection, that the military power of the United States is 
organized and exerted. 

* The constitution provides that Congress has no power to make 
any appropriation of money for the support of armies for a longer term 
than two years. The strength of the army at the commencement of 
hostilities with the Republic of Mexico was, (AprO, 1846,) 7,244. 



MILITARY rOWER OF THE UNITED STATES. 143 

The profession of arms becomes ennobled when we see our 
mihtary men, among our best citizens, and our best citizens 
ready to become soldiers. A standing army has been thought 
indispensably necessary for a nation's defence. The recent 
events of Europe, however, have tended to show that they are 
now deemed sources rather of danger than of protection. 

The volunteer system, adopted by this country, is in harmony 
with its institutions. There is a freedom and a dignity in it 
worthy of a people who are willing and ready to defend their 
own rights.* 

When this war was commenced by Mexico, our troops on 
the frontier of Texas numbered, present and absent, only 
3554 men, of which 131 were sick. Fifty thousand volun- 
teers were called for, and nearly half a million offered their 
services from all parts of the Union. 

The volunteer has all the strength of motive that gives to 
the citizen the spirit of duty, and all the love of home and 
country that gives the soldier courage. He goes to the war, 
not as the agent of destruction, but as the defender of right 
and justice. His motto is, Verite sans peur. 

We have no sympathy with those who decry the military of 
their country, and would avail themselves of the blessings which 
are gained by its power and protected by its presence. Have 
they no reverence for the memory of Washington, and his 
noble band of patriots ! Have they no gratitude for the results 
of their achievements — the achievements of the sword ! We 
admire their love of peace, but we cannot adopt their judgment. 
Their views are in advance of their condition. We would not 
lessen their efforts in the great cause of humanity, but we 
could wish that, while they are disposed to act for the good of 
their country, they would endeavor to devote their energies to 
prevent the causes of war, rather than oppose the stern and 
inexorable rule of justice among nations, after war has been 
commenced. 

* See the excellent speech, of Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, delivered 
in the U. S. Senate, February, 1848. 



144 ACHIEVEBIENTS OF THE ARMY. 



ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE ARMY. 



The nature and limits of the present volunne do not enable 
us to give the details of the brilliant achievements of our army 
in Mexico. These belong to a different and a more extended 
work, which is in preparation. The heroism and the enduring 
activity and skill of the officer and soldier, have been the 
subject of wonder and admiration. All dangers, fatigues, and 
difficulties were encountered and surmounted with cheerfulness 
and promptitude. Our government would consent to nothing 
but an honorable peace ; our army consented to nothing but 
victory. The names of Scott, Taylor, Butler, Worth, Twiggs, 
Wool, Smith, Pillow, Quitman, Childs, Pierce, Hamer, Lane, 
Shields, — and a host of others might be enumerated, — will 
live upon the pages of their country's history so long as merit 
shall be respected and duty honored. 

Our gallant navy, though circumscribed in action, was true 
to the glory which belongs to patriotism, skill, and courage. 
The reputation of its officers and the efficiency of its men are 
too well known to require service to entitle them to our ac- 
knowledgments of respect. 

In the prosecution of this war we find a singular combination 
of forces. The destructive engines of death were sent forward, 
accompanied by commissioners of peace ; and the hand that 
was raised to take life from the enemy, was the bearer of the 
olive branch. After every victory, a pause was made for 
peace.* 

The government at home, three thousand miles from the 
scenes of action, deliberately matured its measures and executed 
its plans. It gave its orders amid an approving party on the one 
hand, and an opposing one on tlie other. Friends were prompt, 
opponents were reluctant. But few would stop the war if they 
could, and many condemned it with their voice, while they 

* See Appendix X. 



ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE ARMY. 145 

sustained it by their votes. None denied its justice, though 
some denied ijs expediency. Many gave their countenance to 
the enemy, though they had too much self-respect to deny the 
folly and stupidity of the Mexicans. 

The House of Representatives voted, by a small majority, 
that the war " was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally begun 
by the president of the United States," and yet the same body 
refused to stop it.* Articles of impeachment were threatened 
against the president by the whigs, but they were not brought 
forward, because there was a democratic majorit}^ in the 
senate ; as if the senators of the democracy could not be true 
to their oaths of office ! States passed their resolutions of 
approval and of protest, peace societies remonstrated, clergy- 
men admonished, and citizens denounced. The government 
was disowned at home and abused abroad, for the unholy war, 
as it was called, against a weak and distracted people. Party 
in its bitterness, zeal in its ignorance, and prejudice in its blind- 
ness, all conspired to render the acts of the government un- 
successful in their objects, and odious to the people. But the 
people were true to their country and to its government. Duty 
was too plain to be mistaken, too great to be neglected. They 
asked no advice but facts, and raised no standard but con- 
science. The government compromised no right, and neglected 
no duty. It was prompt in its action, and humane in its policy. 
It was true to the country, true to Mexico, true to the world, 
and true to itself. 

In the eloquent language of General Cass, we give a brief 
review of what was accomplished by our government and 
army during the short period of twenty-two months. He 
says, — 

" The act recognizing war was passed on tlie 13th of May, 
1846, twenty-two months ago. At that time we had an army, 

* The •' ten regiment bill " was passed by the House, by a vote of 
170 to 35. See speech.es of Mr. Cobb and Mr. Stanton, delivered in 
February and March, 1848. 
13 



146 ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE ARMY. 

whose total of rank and file consisted of 7523 men. They 
occupied thirty-seven forts and positions in the interior of the 
United States, and upon our inland and seaboard frontier, 
comprehending a space almost equal to half of Europe ; and 
the portion of this force under General Taylor, upon the 
Nueces, amounted to 3001 men. This was our preparation 
for meeting the war. All else had to be collected or created. 
Recollect, sir, that our situation is far different from that of 
the martial powers of Europe. War is there both a trade and 
science, and its governments are always prepared to meet 
contingencies, which cannot, indeed, be foreseen, but which, 
if not provided for, bring ruin and disorder in their train. At 
one time, the people of France were a great army, the coun- 
try a vast camp, the cities and towns, arsenals and magazines, 
and the fields, sources of supply for the immense living 
machine, whose movements were always so tremendous, and 
often so irresistible. Well, sir, we had nothing of all this. 
We had no army, for our little force scarcely deserved the 
name. We had no conscription by which to increase it. All 
materiel necessary for the subsistence and transportation and 
operations of our troops had to be collected through the coun- 
try, and conveyed to a distant scene of operations. This 
scene is three thousand miles off; and little did the govern- 
ment or country know of the condition of Mexico, of its 
fortresses, or their state of preparation ; of its armies, or their 
state of efficiency or discipline ; of the roads, bridges, the 
means of transportation and subsistence, and the thousand 
other points, essential to military operations, and which, in the 
various countries of Europe, are studied and known. 

" Now, sir, in the face of these obstacles, what have we 
done } We have sent our troops to the shores of the Pacific, 
by the routes across the continent, and around Cape Horn ; 
we have subdued Upper and Lower California and New 
Mexico ; we have taken possession of the rich and populous 
districts upon the Rio Grande ; we have carried the war into 
the heart of the Republic, after attacking and reducing the 



« J 



ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE AKBIY. 147 

renowned fortress, which commands its principal maritime 
entrance, the capture of which alone was glory enough for 
France ; we have taken its capital, dispersed its armies, made 
its government, and reduced to subjection a large portion of 
its population ; we have fought at least fourteen important 
actions, of which eight were pitched battles, and in every one 
there was a disparity of force against us, and in many an 
inequality, which carries us back for similar examples of 
desperate struggles, to the early ages of the world, — to the 
combats of the Greeks and Persians, — which they resemble, 
rather than the conflicts, which the severe truth of modern 
history judges and records. We have captured a score of 
great cities, some of them fortified and defended, and capa- 
ble of strong resistance. Time would fail me to tell all we 
have done, nor can it be necessary ; for is it not already 
written in imperishable letters upon the records of history, and 
in burning and shining characters upon the heart of every 
American ! " 

This language was not spoken by the distinguished senator 
in a spirit of boasting, but in reply to an honorable member 
who had spoken lightly of the efficiency of our government 
and of the achievements of our army. 

It has been urged by some, that if we had invaded Mexico 
with a large army, her chance of success would have been 
deemed a hopeless one by her own government, and that 
negotiation and peace would have been the immediate results. 
Perhaps so. It is easy to say this when another and more 
moderate course was adopted. If a powerful and overwhelm- 
ing movement had been made by the administration, against 
that feeble and miserable people, oppression and cruelty 
would have been the cry every where. Mexico would have 
had no chance to expose her weakness, and her strength would 
have been over-estimated. As it now stands, in every battle, 
her numerical force was greatly superior to ours, — and it 
cannot be said, that she had no opportunity to test the bravery 
of her troops by battle, or to vindicate her honor by victory. 



148 



ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE ARMY. 



Much has been said by the opponents of the war with regard 
to the return of Santa Anna to Mexico. Of the means sanc- 
tioned or provided we have no remark to make. This subject 
was conclusively disposed of by the president in his answer to 
Congress. We allude to it only for the purpose of expressing 
our undisguised astonishment that any one, under any circum- 
stances, should deny to Mexico the service of her sons ! 
Supposing permission had been asked to allow his return, who 
would have refused it ? What was Santa Anna that we should 
fear him ? Why should he be continued in banishment by 
us ? Was he our prisoner ? And if he were considered by 
Mexico her ablest general, his absence would have been 
deemed as the cause of defeat, and false hopes would have 
continued to blind her people. Of what avail has his return 
been to Mexico ! 

Our country owes her army a debt of gratitude which nothing 
but duty to her own great interests can ever pay. Our soldiers 
were our fellow-citizens. They bravely fought the battles of 
justice, and won victories that shall tend to lessen wrong and 
establish peace in all coming time. They made sacrifices for 
others' good, and, if they suffered, time will prove that for 
every pain shall come a thousand blessings to the future race.* 

While we greet with smiles and joyous acclamations the 
hardy soldier's return from the war, let us pause to drop a 
tear for 

THE FALLEN THAT DO NOT COME. 

The desolated home of the departed soldier should be re- 
lieved by our charities, and soothed by our sympathies. 

* It was estimated that 70,000 victims were sacrificed at the coro- 
nation of Montezuma. The ordinary number of sacrifices, annually, 
was very large before the conquest of Mexico by Cortes. The total 
loss of both nations, in the late war, does not*exceed 12,000. This 
estimate does not embrace the deaths from disease. A complete report 
is not yet made. The saving of life was great, in consequence of 
the conquest of ancient Mexico, and it will be great during the 
next century, in consequence of the war just closed. See Appendix Y. 



THE FALLEN THAT DO NOT COME. 149 

The death of a soldier is an event of the nation, and fraught 
with a nation's consequence. It is not a loss, but a public gain ; 
not an alternative of chance, but of duty. It is the death of 
the body, that the soul of man may live in still greater freedom. 
It is not without good reason that the death of a soldier in the 
service of his country has always been regarded as an event 
of honorable notice. His acts have helped a nation's prog- 
ress, and his lot has made more precious a nation's rights. 

It is a thoughtless and cruel sympathy that would raise no 
stone to mark the soldier's grave, or to seek to deck its mound 
with nought but withered flowers ; to be willing to forget the 
form that perished at the post of duty, and to sadden the hearts 
of those who clung to it in affection while in life, by the irrev- 
erent reflections that a soldier's death has no place in the great 
book of Providence ! that it is wrong, a meanless event of 
sin, a loss, a blank, forbidden by God, and sanctioned by no 
good man. We can see in this no light of wisdom, no act of 
piety. It is a cheerless view of man to look only on the objects 
of life, without regarding the painful sacrifices which lead to 
their attainment ; to seem to be ignorant of the truth that 
death is a law of our nature, — a condition of progress. 

THEN LET THE SOLDIER's GRAVE BE HONORED ! 

Let his deeds be cherished. It is not for the selfish looker-on, 
surrounded by all his comforts and studying no good but his 
own, to measure the glory of those who give up home and all 
that is near and dear, to serve their country on the field of 
danger. The former dies in his cot, and his end is from dis- 
ease. The latter dies on the field, and his end is a sacrifice 
on the altar of patriotism. 
13* 



150 THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 

Justice is the standard of right. Whatever is just, is right. 
Whatever is right, must be just. Justice is a principle that 
gives moral condition to existence. It is an element that seeks 
equality in all the relations of life, and is the law of harmony 
in the moral being. It saves the individual from the hardships 
of transgression, and preserves the nation from decay and 
downfall. It is the result of a world's integrity. It is the 
condition of continued existence. 

It is not a matter of chance. It is not to be perverted or 
avoided. It is self-protective. It can neither be tempted or 
bribed. Neither can it be impaired or destroyed. It is an 
attribute of Deity, — an indestructible element of all created 
being. It is true to its source, and yields not to power, nor to 
the events of time or eternity. Without justice, man would 
cease to be a moral being ; and without justice, nations would 
cease to exist upon the face of the earth, and truth would be at 
war with itself. 

Properly to discuss, therefore, the justice of the war, we are 
led to inquire into the principles of national existence. These 
principles involve national duties. The duties of a nation are 
of a two-fold character. 

1st. Self-preservation, in the most enlarged sense of the 
term; and, 

2d. A just regard for the rights of all men and of all nations. 

Or, in other words, justice to itself and justice to others. 

The duties of self-preservation are those to be found in a 
just and comprehensive legislation ; in the impartial adminis- 
tration of the laws ; in the strict observance of treaties ; in the 
means of education and improvement ; in the protection of 
life, liberty, and property of all the citizens of a nation 
throughout the world. 

The second class of duties are embraced in this, that, in 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 151 

what we claim for ourselves as necessary to our protection, we 
will not deny as necessary to all others placed in the same re- 
sponsible relations of national existence. 

We have seen what the relations have been between the 
United States and Mexico during an entire generation. On 
the one hand, a series of aggressions on life, liberty, and prop- 
erty have been committed, without manifesting any disposition 
to lessen the causes of wrong in future, or to give redress for 
wrongs of the past. To these have been added the petty acts 
of arrogance, and bold assumptions, having no truth to redeem 
them. On the other hand, a nation of greater power, the sub- 
ject of these wrongs, has resorted to no measures of retaliation, 
to no decisive means of redress, but has exhausted all the 
sources of favor and forbearance. 

The weakness of Mexico has been the condition of her ex- 
emption from a just accountability. This has been her mis- 
fortune ; and if the government of the United States has any 
error to redeem, it is that of indulgence to Mexico, permitting 
the acts of outrage and wrong, without insisting upon prompt 
reparation. The weakness of a nation furnishes no good reason 
why she should be excused for the violation and neglect of 
sacred duties. All will agree that it is a reason for an oppo- 
site course. National strength cannot come from neglect ; 
national prosperity cannot come from indolence ; national 
glory cannot come from national wrongs. All these elements 
of national existence can come only from conscience and from 
duty. 

Not content to be left to herself to reform during the seasons 
of indulgence, she adds new insults to the wrongs of the past, 
and, in the utter folly of her condition, commences a war with 
the United States ; thus inviting the infliction of those accumu- 
lated penalties, which a Providence may suspend, but never 
remit.* 

* We find the following paragraph in one of the public journals, 
embraced in a letter from St. Petersburgh, with regard to the cholera 
nr w prevailing in that city : 

" During the week, and particularly on Sunday last, processions 



152 THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 

War is, indeed, a temporary calamity ; but without war, 
national wrongs would become permanent evils. Without war, 
moral blessings would be made subservient to the animal pas- 
sions. Ultimate victory is ever on the side of right.* 

In what way could the evils of Mexico be reached, unless 
by the strong hand of war ? How could she be made to feel 
that Providence exempted no nation from the penalties of its 
crimes, except by war ? How could we reach her cities, her 

with images, consecrated burners, &c., have perambulated all the 
streets and squares of the city to propitiate the divine Being, and to 
avert the du-eful calamity with which this city is visited." 

There are certain diseases of the body which may be termed cumu- 
lative diseases, whose causes are both near and remote. The cholera 
may be said to be one of them. The causes are to be found in man's 
ignorance of his physical laws, and in the consequent abuse of them. 
What is not made manifest in the individual, is visited upon the race. 
What is not seen as an effect in a day, will be made apparent in a 
generation, or in a century. The same may be said with regard to 
national evils. 

Instead of addressing prayers to Deity how to escape from the chol- 
era, let the Russians, and all others, pray to be saved from the causes 
which produce it, and which may come upon their descendants. Let 
them pray for knowledge of themselves, and of the conditions of health. 
To pray to be saved from the consequences of causes already existing 
or past, is equivalent to askmg to be exempted from the protection ot 
God's providence. 

* Civilization finds war, like all other elements of humanity, neces- 
sarily existing. It docs not create the principle, but it controls and 
modifies its action. Horror after horror is swept away ; the captive 
ceases to be sent to the stake or the caldron ; slavery becomes an im- 
provement substituted for murder ; the enslaved captives are treated 
with more and more kindness, until servitude ceases altogether, and 
prisoners of war are recognized as men and brothers. The onward 
course of civilization is at least, in this respect, distinctly marked ; 
we can see the direction of its progress ; an intelligent and moral 
public opinion is steadily establishing its empire instead of brute 
force, and forming a tribunal to decide the disputes of nations, as 
peacefully as those of individuals. — Taylor s Natural History of 
Society. 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 153 

people, and that army * of settled impostors, that has preyed 
upon her very vitals during her existence as a Republic, except 
by war ? How could her miserable population be educated and 
elevated to the privileges of freedom and justice, and be pro- 
tected from the rule of tyrants and wicked men, except by 
war ? f 

Could we send them missionaries to teach them religion, — 
who would tolerate them, who would hear them ? Could we 
send teachers to instruct their children, and the ignorant, — 
what parent in that country would give his assent, what priest 
would yield to such a power ? Could we send books, and 
tracts, giving knowledge and inculcating duty, — they would 
be rejected as dangerous where ignorance is safety. Could 

* " That which is in all respects the greatest nuisance, and the 
most insuperable barrier to the prosperity and progress of Mexico, is 
the army. They Avill tell you there, that it amounts to 40,000 men ; 
but they have never had half that number. I have no doubt that 
the accounts at the department of war exhibit nearly the number 
stated, but a large proportion of them are men of straw, fictitious 
names fraudulently inserted for the benefit of the officers who pay 
them. 

" They have more than two hundi'cd generals, most of them -with- 
out commands." — Thompson s Recollections. 

The manner of collecting an army, in Mexico, is thus stated by the 
same able author. 

" The soldiers of the Mexican army are generally collected by 
sending out recruiting detachments into the mountains, where they 
hunt the Indians in their dens and caverns, and bring them in chains 
to Mexico. There is scarcely a day that droves of these miserable and 
more than half naked wretches are not seen thus chained together 
and marching through the streets to the barracks, where they are 
scoured and then dressed in a uniform made of linen cloth or of 
serge, and are occasionally drilled, which drilling consists mainly in 
teaching them to march in column through the streets." 

t "The clergy and the army cannot be tried for crime, or be made 
to pay a debt by the common covirts of the country ; but the former 
are tried by the ecclosia:3tical, and the latter by a military court." — 
See Speech of Hon. Mr. Flck'iii, (Litcercd in the House of Representatives^ 
March, 1848. 



154 THE JUSTIC3 OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 

we protect the traveller in that country from murder and rob- 
bery, by a government passport ? Could we defend the rights 
of our citizens by a recital of our treaty stipulations ? Could 
we avenge national insults by national protests ? Could we 
redress national wrongs by national remonstrance ? 

The crimes of men are visited upon their heads. Society 
demands it, and the laws provide the way and the means. 
The criminals can be found and taken. They can be subjected 
to trial, to sentence, and to punishment. All this is practica- 
ble. But it is not so with nations. A nation cannot be sum- 
moned to court. A nation cannot be sent for by the police. 
It cannot be imprisoned for safety. It cannot be tried by a 
jury, sentenced by a court, and punished according to law. 
A nation cannot he called to an account for its loickedness^ 
or he subjected to punishment^ except hy war. And in this 
terrible calamity, it is made to suffer, and to render justice. 

Its false pride is rebuked ; its trusts are reduced ; its neglected 
engagements are detailed for redemption; its outrages are made 
the subject of notoriety throughout all nations, — as examples 
to be detested and shunned ; its own government becomes the 
subject of public admonition before the civilized world. 

If the calamities of war are terrible to be borne, it must be 
considered that they are remedies for evils, which, if continued, 
would destroy society, and that they are but the lessons which 
nations teach nations, of a nation's good, of a nation's shame, 
or of a nation's glory. 

The remedies of Providence are directed by fundamental 
laws. They are made in magnitude and character to corre- 
spond with the nature and extent of the evils which they are 
designed to correct. 

Who shall complain that the tempest is too great ! that the 
whirlwind is too rapid ! that the earthquake is too terrible ! 
that the volcano is too fearful ! that the lightning is too dan- 
gerous, and the thunder too startling ! or that pestilence and 
famine are too destructive ! 

Why should men look for great effects from small causes ? 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 155 

Why should men look for great reforms, without regard to 
means adapted to the nature and extent of the work to be 
done ? Governments are surrounded by impenetrable walls 
of national error, pride, and prejudice, — more durable than 
granite, less yielding than steel, and no power can reach them 
or their people until these walls are broken, and no power can 
break them but war. 

As individuals are made responsible to the laws of society, 
in which they live, so nations are held responsible to 
nations for a just observance of those great laws, which, for a 
common good, all civilized nations acknowledge.* As a peo- 
ple improve a country, so nations cover the earth to improve 
and subdue it. They are either faithful or false to their trusts. 
If faithful, they prosper ; and their prosperity is an element in 
the progress of the world. If false, adversity is their lot, and 
their evils are extended to every nation. In some degree, the 
interests of one nation become the interests of all nations. 
All have a common interest, and this all are ready to protect. 

As sovereignties acknowledge no superior, each nation 
claims to judge of its own rights. As these rights are re- 
spected, intercourse becomes useful and profitable. As they 
are disregarded or violated, they become the subjects of nego- 
tiation, or causes of war. When negotiation fails, war becomes 
the alternative. In this position, Mexico placed herself in rela- 
tion to the United States. It became the right of this country 
to insist upon that measure of justice which she is ever ready 
to accord to others, and which all nations, just to themselves, 
are bound to observe. War was not the choice of our govern- 
ment, it became the alternative. It will be remembered that 
Mexico barely escaped a war with us in 1837. In a message 
to Congress of that year, President Jackson used the following 
language : — 

" Having in vain urged upon the government of Mexico 
the justice of those claims, and my indispensable obligation to 

* See Appendix Z. 



156 THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS UESULTS. 

insist that there should be no further delay in the acknowledg- 
ment, if not in the redress, of the injuries complained of, my 
duty requires that the whole subject should be presented, as it 
now is, for the action of Congress, whose exclusive right it is 
to decide on the further measures to be employed. The length 
of time since some of these injuries have been committed, the 
repeated and unavailing applications for redress, the wanton 
character of some of the outrages upon the property and per- 
sons of our citizens, upon the officers and flag of the United 
States, independent of the recent insult to this government 
and people by the late extraordinary Mexican minister, would 

JUSTIFY, IN THE EYES OF ALL NATIONS, IMMEDIATE WAR. 

That remedy, however, should not be used by just and gener- 
ous nations, confiding in their strength, for injuries committed, 
if it can be honorably avoided ; and it has occurred to me, that, 
considering the present embarrassed condition of that country, 
we should act with both wisdom and moderation, by giving 
Mexico one more opportunity to atone for the past, before we 
take redress into our own hands. To avoid all misconception 
on the part of Mexico, as well as to protect our own national 
character from reproach, this opportunity should be given with 
the avoiced design and full preparation to take immediate sat- 
isfaction, if it should not he obtained on a repetition of a de- 
m,and for it. To this end, I recommend that an act be passed, 
authorizing reprisals, and the use of the naval force of the 
United States, by the executive, against Mexico, to enforce 
them, in the event of a refusal of the Mexican government 
to come to an amicable adjustment of the matters in con- 
troversy between us, upon another demand thereof, made 
from on board one of our vessels of war on the coast of 
Mexico." 

This message was sent to Congress on the 8th February, 
1837, and on the 19th day of February, the committee on 
foreign relations in the Senate, of which Mr. Clay was one, 
made — unanimously — a report, which was accepted unani- 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 157 

mously by the Senate, repeating and approving entirely, the 
views and suggestions of President Jackson. 

The report of the House on the same subject, was made on 
the 24th February, fully concurring with the views of the 
president, and with those of the Senate committee. 

On the 27th of May, 1837, Mr. Forsyth, then secretary 
of state, in a letter written to the Mexican minister of foreign 
affairs, says, — 

" These wrongs are of a character which cannot be tolerated 
by any government indued with a just self-respect, with a 
proper regard for the opinion of other nations, or with an 
enlightened concern for the permanent welfare of those por- 
tions of its people who may be interested in foreign commerce. 
Treasure belonging to the citizens of the United States has 
been seized by Mexican officers, in its transit from the capital 
to the coast ; vessels of the United States have been captured, 
detained, and condemned, upon the most frivolous pretexts ; 
duties have been exacted from others, notoriously against law, 
or without law ; others have been employed — and in some 
instances ruined — in the Mexican service, without compensa- 
tion to the owners. Citizens of the United States have been 
imprisoned for long periods of time, without being informed 
of the offences with which they were charged. Others have 
been murdered and robbed by Mexican officers, on the high 
seas, without any attempt to bring the guilty to justice." 

This was in 1837. In 1839 a commission was appointed 
by the two governments to determine the amount of the claims 
due to our citizens. This commission, being limited as to time, 
only a portion of the business was accomplished. The amount 
reported to be paid was $2,026,139 68 ; and this sum Mexico 
stipulated to pay by instalments. It was divided into twenty 
instalments, and but three were ever paid. It has been re- 
marked, " that the damages received by our citizens, from 
1839 to 1845, inclusive, exceeded the amount of those three 
instalments ; for while Mexico was paying these small amounts^ 
14 



158 THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 

comparatively ^ on one hand, she icas committing depredations 
on the other.'''' * 

The position of our government, in 1845, was, indeed, a 
painful one. It had no right to relieve Mexico from her obli- 
gations ; it could not consistently, with its own dignity, sub- 
mit to new insult ; it could not force her to negotiate, nor 
could it determine upon war, where the ■ disparity of power 
and condition would give to success no glory, and to victory 
no indemnity. 

As our government assumed, with all humility, the initiative 
in reestablishing diplomatic relations between the two coun- 
tries after they had been interrupted by the act of Mexico, 
Mexico reciprocated by assuming the initiative in commencing 
hostilities. 

Perhaps our government was too reluctant to take upon 
itself the responsibility of a war against a sister Republic, in 
which its motives might be assailed, and its objects misunder- 
stood or misrepresented. War makes no part of the policy of 
our country. Our people are lovers of peace. It cannot be 
otherwise. War does not help our commerce or protect 
our industry. It injures both ; and our citizens are slow to 
sanction what will lessen their interests. When war, however, 
becomes a duty that cannot be avoided with honor and integrity, 
it is met with a spirit of patriotism and firmness that need only 
to be directed to command results which will tend to establish 
more firmly the blessings of peace. f 

* See speech of Hon. Mr. Jameson, January, 1848. 

t It is remarked with great truth by Macaulay, in his review of 
Hallam's Constitutional History, that, 

" If there is any truth established by the universal experience of 
nations, it is this, that to carry the spirit of peace into war, is a weak 
and cruel policy. The time of negotiation is the time of delibera- 
tion and delay. But when an extreme case calls for that remedy, 
which is in its OAvn nature most violent, and which in such cases is 
a remedy only because it is violent, it is idle to think of mitigating 
and diluting. Languid war can do nothing which negotiation or 
submission will not do better ; and to act on any other principle is 
not to save blood and money, bxct to squander themJ" 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 159 

In this war with Mexico, our government had a national duty 
to perform. , The time had arrived when justice must be 
done to Mexico. It was required by the interests of this 
country ; it was demanded by the interests of all nations ; and, 
— more important than to all others, — it was due to Mexico 
herself. Her commercial, domestic, and moral condition made 
^he duty an imperative one, that she might be saved from her 
own acts. Her crisis had come. She had done nothing well, 
clothing promptly. Both England and France long since were 
compelled to threaten her, to secure their rights. And if this 
country had not been involved in the business of chastisement, 
<he duty would soon have fallen to other powers. 

Fortunately for Mexico that her destiny was placed in our 
seeping. Fortunately for us, that such was the event ; for had 
t been otherwise, the calamities of war would doubtless have 
ieen multiplied.* Other powers would not have been per- 
mitted by the United States to secure by conquest any perma- 
nent interest on this continent, more than they now hold. 
And doubly fortunate for Mexico ; for if she has within her 
limits sufficient energies to lead her onward to success, she 
has only to avail herself of the aid which the United States are 
abundandy able to give, and she may yet succeed as a nation. 
The great lesson for her to study is the history of herself, — 
the causes of her misfortunes, of her ad verses, and the jus- 
tice of the penalties which have been inflicted upon her. 

It is supposed by some that Mexico loses by the war.t 
That she parts with her treasures as indemnity for its expenses. 
That she has lessened her means of national prosperity, and 
impoverished her people, in making concessions which were 

* The U. S. flag was raised in California. If this had been de- 
layed a single day, the British flag would have waved over that 
territory. 

t See Appendix A A. We give the treaty without comment. Our 
limits do not permit us to speak either of its terms or of the manner 
of its execution. This we may do in a more extended work. 



160 THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 

Stipulated by the treaty of peace. This is a mistake. She 
has, indeed, lost a degree of her national importance. Her 
pride has been humbled, her vanity has been rebuked, her 
false position has been exposed and realized, and some of her 
people have fallen in battle ; in these mortifications and visita- 
tions, her sufferings have been great. It is right that they 
should be great. It is natural. It is just. Wrong doing is 
corrected by pain and suffering. Great benefits are guarded 
by severe penalties, whenever and wherever violated or abused. 
The changes to which Mexico has been subjected, are for 
her good, her gain. She has ceded a portion of that territory 
to which she has proved false. Like the steward in the para- 
ble, she hid the talent that was given her to be improved, and 
made no interest. It was a territory that gave her no income, 
and to which she could afford no protection. She had proved 
her incapacity to develop the treasures of her soils, her forests, 
and her mines. She rested upon that beautiful region of the 
earth an incumbrance.* She was idle, where all nature 
invited to industry ; t she was poor, where riches abounded on 

* It is no exaggeration to say that it is impossible for one who 
has not been on the table-lands of Mexico to conceive of a climate 
so Elysian. There is not a day, and scarcely an hour, in the year 
when one could say, I wish it were a little warmer or a little cooler. 
No spot on earth will be more desirable than this for a residence 
whenever it is in possession of our race, with the government and 
laws they carry with them Avherever they go. — Thompsoiis Becol- 
lectiotis. 

t Although the whole road from the city of Yera Cruz to the city 
of Mexico passes through a country inexpressively picturesque and 
beautiful, yet the ignorant, idle, and degraded population, the total 
absence of cultivation and improvement, and a general appearance 
of wildness and desolation, produced with me feelings partaking of 
gloom and melancholy. Neither in going nor returning did I see 
one human being, man, woman, or child, engaged at work of any sort. 
The great mass of population doze out their lives with no higher 
thoughts or purposes than the beasts which perish around them. 
— Thompson's Recollections. 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 161 

every hand ; * her highways were marked by the emblems of 
her religion, but instead of representing examples of good- 
ness, of duty, of piety, they were made the sad index of out- 
rage and murder.f In her domestic circles, her people were 
thoughtless, vain, and heartless. Without a permanent interest 
in the soil, their labors were selfish and temporary.^ They 
had but little to hope for, and they bad but little encourage- 
ment in their incitements to duty. Their priests had the 
influence of friends, while their rule was more fatal than the 
maledictions of foes. Their pleasures were deemed para- 
mount to duty. They could not comprehend the advantage of 
improvement ; they did not understand the power of knowledge, 
nor appreciate the blessings that come from toil, time, and 
system. Their time was counted from sun to sun, and what 
the morrow should bring forth was a matter having no place in 
their economy. Their entire domain was but the field of con- 
test, civil war, and bloodshed ; faction displacing faction, 
anarchy passing for peace, and despotism for self-government. 
That such a nation, such a people, were spared so long, is 

* *« One thing," says Gilliam, " I must not forget to mention, 
— which, must excite the contempt of the American agriculturist, — 
the manure of a hacienda is never spread over the land, but in every 
instance is thrown out of the way in heaps, and when the winds and 
sun have sufficiently dried it, it is set on fire and suifered to con- 
sume. A gentleman once told me that he had seen a pile on fire for 
twelve months, the conflagration being very slow." 

t When a traveller is murdered, it is customary to bury him on 
the highway, and erect a cross over his grave. Gilliam says that 
" he verily believes that there is not a mile on the thoroughfare, from 
Mexico to Vera Cruz, that has not flowed with the blood of plun- 
dered and murdered individuals ; and where you may behold upon 
either hand the sad and many emblems of the crucifix over fallen 
travellers." 

j "There is no country in the world," says Gilliam, "from the 
best information I could obtain, where individual citizens hold as 
large bodies of land as in Mexico, and it is estimated that, from 
seven millions of inhabitants, in all probability, less than five hundred 
thousand are the owners of all the terra firma of that rich country." 
14* 



162 THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 

an example of God's mercy, almost without a parallel. There 
was nothing that could save the nation but justice. The manner 
in which this justice has been administered by the government 
of the United States is an example worthy to be studied, and 
emulated by all the nations of the earth. Its effects upon 
other nations of great power, will more than compensate for 
all the sufferings of the war. They will be led to reconsider 
the rights of their dependents, and more fully to provide for 
their wants. 

What Mexico may gain by the war, is nationality. If she 
improves her lessons of experience, they will yield her wis- 
dom and give her strength. She has been paid a sum of 
money for that which has yielded her nothing in the past, and 
which promised her nothing in the future. If her people 
would hold her remaining territory, let them study the condi- 
tions by which alone they can hope to succeed ; and, if they 
manifest a desire to do right, and persevere, they need have 
no fear of failure.* 

The gain to the government of the United States, is the pres- 
ervation of its own integrity. It has been true to the great 
cause of liberty, justice, and humanity. It has been true to 
republican principles ; true in the midst of temptation ; — true 
to itself, wherein are centred the hopes, the strength of all 
republics throughout the world. It has taught the great lesson, 
in fearful letters of blood, that republics are not to be exempted 

* "There is only one cure," says Macaulay, "for the evils which 
newly-acquired freedom produces, and that cure is freedom ! When 
a prisoner leaves his cell, he cannot bear the hght of day ; he is 
unable to discriminate colors, or recognize faces ; but the remedy is 
not to remand him into his dungeon, but to accustom him to the 
rays of the sun. The blaze of truth and liberty may at fii-st dazzle 
and bewilder nations, which have become half blind in the house of 
bondage ; but let them gaze on, and they will soon be able to bear it. 
In a few years men learn to reason ; the extreme violence of opinion 
subsides ; hostile theories correct each other ; the scattered elements 
of truth cease to conflict, and begin to coalesce ; at length, a system 
of justice and order is educed out of the chaos." 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 163 

from national calamities, if they permit national evils and 
national wrongs ; that national greatness consists in national 
goodness ; that national strength is to be found in the virtue and 
intelligence of the people. 

In the language of an eloquent senator,* " National character 
is national power ; and the purer, the more elevated, the more 
spotless the character, the greater the power. I trust, there- 
fore, in God, that I am right in the opinion that this war is upon 
our part just and honorable. 

" Mexico is answerable for all these sad and sickening 
results. The war is just, because she commenced it. It does 
exist by her act ; and, so help me God, but for that conviction, 
as I reverence truth and detest falsehood, I would never have 
voted for the act of the thirteenth of May, 1846." 

By the stipulations of the treaty of peace, the gain to our 
country is gain to the cause of freedom, t Our government 
receives no treasure, our people receive no wealth. Not one 
man of our twenty millions of people has the individual ben- 
efit of a single farthing extorted from Mexico by the conquests 
when achieved. 

It is true, the ceded territory will doubtless prove of great con- 
sequence to the future inhabitants of this country ; but the priv- 
ileges secured are purely national, not individual, and they give 
power to a nation that is able and willing to protect them, and 
the universal cause of right in all coming time. The gain is 
not for the good of this country alone, it is a gain to humanity. 
It is not for the American, but for the race. This continent is 
to be the vast asylum of the world, for man to inhabit, in his 
weakness or strength, and to receive protection and encour- 
agement. 

The OTnquests of our army are not like those of the early 
ages of the world, where confiscation of property, and where 
liberty, were the forfeitures of defeat. We sought power that 
justice might be done, and protection given. Our government 
asks nothing from its people, but faithfulness to themselves, to 

* Hon. Reverdy Johnson. t See Appendix B B. 



164 THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 

their rights, and to their institutions. Their moral condition 
characterizes their institutions ; it gives them birth, it gives them 
being. The people are made their own protectors, their own 
guides, their own masters. The government of the United 
States is but a manifestation of their wishes, an imbodiment of 
their power. 

It is asked, with apparent sincerity, by some, " What right 
have we to invade Mexico ? What right have we to reduce a 
nation already too feeble to support itself, already too misera- 
ble for existence, and to dictate terms for settlement of expen- 
ditures which have given us the power to lay her prostrate at 
our feet ? " 

By what right have we the power to do any thing ? By 
what right is the soil of our land divided among its people ? 
By what right does the citizen ask to be protected from wrong ? 
By what right do freemen claim liberty of thought and con- 
science ? By what right do we ask to be protected in our com- 
forts, pleasures, and homes ? By what right do we demand 
institutions of freedom and of knowledge ? 

By THE RIGHTS OF JUSTICE AND HUMANITY. By the rights 
developed in God's providence, and which may he extended to 
all people, when all people shall know the laws and under- 
stand them, by which men, and governments, and nations may 
live, flourish, and be happy. 

If man will but study the destiny of man and of nations, he 
will see a harmony of constitution pervading the circles of 
society, and extending from a family to a nation, and from a 
nation to the world. There is a cause which would lift up the 
individual to the performance of the duties of social life ; there 
is another that would elevate the citizen for the good of his 
country ; there is another that seeks to give strength and char- 
acter to a nation, and still another that gives compacts and 
laws to nations, the greatest, the widest cause of all. The 
rights of nations are to be exercised for the good of nations. 
The universal good of nations consists in justice and integrity. 
In the name of this sacred cause^ the cause of God, the prog- 



THE JUSTICE OF THE WAR, AND ITS RESULTS. 165 

ress of man, the freedom of mind and body tlirouglwut the 
whole earth, this war was prosecuted hy the government of the 
United States, in its luisdom, as an act of justice. 

It is a passage of great truth, in one of the speeches of 
Governor Cass, that " All wars are to be deprecated, as well by 
the statesman as by the philanthropist. They are great evils, 
but there are greater evils than these, and submission to injustice 
is among them. The nation which should refuse to defend its 
rights and its honor, would soon have neither to defend." 



166 PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 



PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES, 



The present condition of political parties in this countiy, is 
a subject of singular interest to the citizen and to the observer. 
The elements which constitute the causes of difference, and 
the difference of principle, of profession and of action, are so 
diversified and opposite in character, that it is a matter of no 
small difficulty for the candid mind to decide what course of 
influence is safest and best ; to discriminate between the tran- 
sient and permanent, to draw a just line of distinction between 
the honest and dishonest pretensions of political leaders. 

In no country, perhaps, are the rights of the citizen, and 
the nature of government, so much discussed as in this, not 
only by the well-informed, but by the ignorant ; and yet 
there seems to be but little practical knowledge developed and 
systematized. 

There is, indeed, a diffusive expression of opinion, and an 
apparent, maturity of judgment, but a little attention to the 
views of many of those who claim to be the light of the peo- 
ple, must convince any one that they are not only selfish, but 
that they really have no philosophical basis of their own. 

The modern politician is too superficial to be a discernmg 
leader, and too much the creature of circumstance to be a 
safe adviser. This is true, in some degree, of all parties. 
He sees but a part of the whole, land judges the whole without 
regard to the parts. He appeals too much to local interests 
and prejudices ; and if he cannot gain his ends by an open and 
frank avowal of his principles, he is too ready to employ indi- 
rect and unworthy means for their accomplishment. His 



»i' 



TARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 167 

policy is a transient one ; and, instead of anticipating and pro- 
viding for the distant evils of favorite measures, he sees 
nothing but the present good. 

This view is no fiction, but a reality. We can exempt no 
State from the application ; it is due to all, and all seem to 
be involved in difficulties incident to selfishness. New expe- 
dients receive attention to the neglect of settled principles, 
and the policy of the moment is in favor, at the expense of 
what should make the policy of a generation. Most parties 
speak much truth, in opposition to one another ; all parties 
commit their errors upon different subjects, at difierent 
periods. 

In this state of things, in this confusion of profession, of 
principle, of practice and malpractice, it requires an extraor- 
dinary degree of moral courage to stand above the temptations 
of designing men. 

It becomes the natural inquiry of the citizen how he is to 
distinguish the right from the wrong ; and, without more error 
than falls to the lot of humanity, to do his duty to himself and 
to his country. What make the standards of party ? Which 
standard is right, and how are others wrong ? 

We deem this a profitable subject of inquiry. It is not a 
new one. It may not be an interesting one. All will agree 
in its importance. If we do not enlighten our readers, they 
will admit, we doubt not, that it is some service to remind them 
of what they know and to render familiar the fundamental 
principles of our institutions, which should ever be present with 
a party that trusts to be permanent. 

Parties are either j^ermanent or transient ; the former recog- 
nizing fundamental principles, which forever remain true ; the 
latter, organizing and reorganizing according to incidental cir- 
cumstances, local interests, special interests, or special reforms. 
The former raises its standard, declares its principles, and 
through them reach the various causes of reform, and adopts 
all practicable measures that promise to conduce to the pros- 
perity of the country. The latter is either conservative, or 
ultra, or special, or local. It carries the standard of a day ; it 



168 PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 

avows but one principle of a thousand. It is partial, and looks 
to a single interest, severed from its connection with more 
important ones. It seeks to increase the power of the few, 
without regarding that the expense is to the many. It is, con- 
servative in the great party, it is intolerant in the small. It 
existed yesterday, and to-day it is not. The influence of 
these parties is not continued and concentrated within them- 
selves ; but whatever they mature of right soon reaches and 
is made to help and elevate the dominant party. 

We would not denounce such parties. We would not 
denounce any party. We claim to prove a party in the right ; 
and if a party be in the wrong, it may be shown by our stand- 
ard, or it may be proved so by its own measures. We do not 
mean that we would extend to such parties our favor, for this 
would be a compromise of principle. We do not mean that 
we would spare them from attack, for this would be a com- 
promise of duty. We mean, that we will not denounce a party 
because we are not counted one of its members ; but we would 
subject it to the severest scrutiny, to the severest test known to 
science, or demanded by principle. We would try it by its 
own standard, and by that which we deemed to be permanent. 
We would prove it to be in the wrong, or admit it to be in the 
right. We would be firm without dogmatism, and bold with- 
out arrogance. 

We can see much good in the conflicts of party. Parties are 
not voluntary associations, made up of men who choose their 
part without reference to convictions. We have a higher 
respect for the people than to suppose that their faith is the 
result of their interest or their will. We do not deny excep- 
tions. Men act from the evidence that is in them, and around 
them, and before them. Their opinions are spontaneous, their 
motives rest in conscience, and their acts should appear in 
conformity to these. They are independent as individuals, 
and as individuals they act in parties. They have individual 
interests, and party interests. The individual seeks to bring 
the party to himself, but as all cannot be exemplars, all yield 
minor views, and unite on certain great and fundamental prin- 



PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 169 

ciples. What cannot be gained at once, must come by 
degrees. What cannot be understood at once, must be taught 
by degrees. What is not practicable now, must be studied as 
a future measure. Party zeal may outstrip party prudence ; 
but party prudence should yield nothing to cowardice at the 
expense of principle. While it is admitted that zeal may save 
us from lethargy, it must be borne in mind that judgment may 
save us from the errors of careless or hasty thinking. 

The deep lines of party distinction represent frequently 

great and important interests. Men are influenced by what 

I they have, or by what they want. They design to be true, but 

they are frequently blinded by their interest. They design to 

be just, but they err in not' respecting the motives of their 

opponents. They intend to be charitable, but they mistake the 

, objects of charity for the subjects of censure.* 

I The existence of parties constitutes the means of political 

I progress. Parties may be violent, they may agitate a whole 

i nation, and threaten its peace ; but without this exercise no 

' nation can have maturity, no nation can have strength or 

( acquire glory. What exercise is to the physical system, it is 

j to the nation. It develops its means of strength. The conflict 

I of opinion is the exercise of mind ; the conflict of party make 

that of a nation. We would not encourage division unless 

, made subservient to a well-tried standard, nor would we lament 

^it if dictated by honest motives. 

In this country thei'e are two great parties ; the democratic, 
or republican party, and the conservative, or whig party. 

The democratic, party has its standard of principle and its 
rule of action. It seeks to reach the whole people, and to 
isecure equal rights to all, without unjust sacrifice to any. It 
stands upon the basis of the Constitution, and yields none of its 
safeguards to construction. It sustains the humblest citizen 
jin all his rights, and the States in their prerogatives of sover- 
leignty. It favors simplicity of life, the elevation of the 



* See Appendix C C. 
15 



170 PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 

people, and rigid economy in the administration of government. 
It acts from itself outwardly, and seeks to extend the greatest 
good to the whole people. The declarations of the party, 
adopted years ago, still remain the standard. As new meas- 
ures are acted upon and determined, they cease to continue 
subjects of party discussion. Omitting these, the resolutions 
adopted by the Baltimore convention, in 1844, were readopted 
by the convention of 1848. We copy them in our Appendix, 
as imbodying fundamental views.* 

The history of the democratic party shows that, when its 
measures have been tested, they have proved true to their ob- 
jects. Having been the dominant party of the country, our 
prosperity as a nation is justly attributable to its prudent meas- 
ures. In the operations of government, it has been prudent in 
its expenditures and faithful to its trusts. We have inserted in 
the Appendix, tables exhibiting the receipts and expeiiditm-es 
of government from 1789 to 1846-7,t and the losses of 
government from 1789 to 1837.| The losses since 1844, have 
been very small, — indeed, we have no account of any. 

These tables exhibit a degree of economy in the government of 
a nation which must be highly gratifying to all parties. It is a 
proper subject of national congratulation at home, and it affords 
an example of most fearful import to other powers abroad. 

In noticing the conservative, or whig party, we speak of it 
as such, without wishing to be considered discourteous to the 
many estimable citizens who rank themselves as members of it. 
We invite them to an impartial examination of principles. If 
they would characterize the measures of government by their 
talents and influence, their proper course, let us respectfully 
suggest, is to join the dominant party. 

The conservative party places its standard in particular 
measures. When those measures are lost, its standard is gone. 
It is in opposition to the dominant party. It is the veto party 
to the rights of the people. 

* See Appendix DD. f See Appendix EE. :]: See Appendix EF. 



PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 171 

It opposed the war of Madison, in 1812. It opposed the 
war with Mexico, in 1846-7.* It opposed the free-trade tariff 
of 1846. It opposed the sub-treasury of 1840, and repealed 
it in 1841. It opposed the constitutional treasury of 1846. t It 
resorted to extraordinary exertions to sustain the United States 
Bank, and to renew its charter. In all these examples their 
opposition was against their government, against the views of 
a large majority of the people ; and time will prove that in no 
instance, on great questions, has the party been in the right. 



* " Every measure of policy to which, the democratic party were 
pledged by the resolutions of the Baltimore convention, in May, 1844, 
have been established, and the country is now in the enjoyment of 
theu- full fruition." * * * « Thus it is apparent that the whig 
party before this time would have ceased to exist, but for their oppo- 
sition to the war." — Mr. Inge's speech, House of RcjJresentatives, March, 
1848. 

This is true, in some degree, but not without qualification. The 
whigs will always continue as a party, though they may not be true 
to any particular standard. Conservative influence is as important 
in politics as it is in science. Although it may oppose new measures 
of progress, it must be admitted that it furnishes new motives to ex- 
ertion, and opens new sources of proof and illustration to sustain 
truth, and to render more obvious the positions of error. The whig 
party is favored by great wealth, and its interests will over incite its 
members to activity. Its ranks are honored by men of splendid 
talents and extensive attainments ; and to deny the importance of 
their exercise and use to the country and to the world, would be an 
act of reckless folly and injustice. Their opposition to error will help 
to make it appear in its true light, and their opposition to truth, 
should their interests seem to require it, will tend to render its ben- 
efits more manifest. The party is strengthened and dignified by such 
men as Webster and Clay ; but it cannot be true to them unless 
their principles and measure of influence happen to coincide with its 
temporary interests and fluctuating notions of availability. Therefore, 
most of the sacrifices and mortifications of the party fall upon its 
leaders. This arises from the fact that, generally, the lovers of money 
are not lovers of science. Opinions are made subservient to interer.ts. 

t The final vote of the house was 123 to 67. The vote of the sen- 
ate was 28 to 24 — strictly a party vote. 



172 PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 

It is a party that hopes to succeed by the supposed errors 
of their opponents, without reference to any fundamental prin- 
ciples of their own. It favors the interests of the rich, the 
power of corporations, the influence of the few at the expense 
of the many. It claims for government a conservative action, 
it claims for office an advisoiy privilege, and for its members a 
superiority of position. 

The great questions which have marked its acts having been 
settled, the party is now without a standard. They have been 
proved to be in the wrong by the success of widely different 
measures, upon the same subjects, of the dominant party. They 
are still in the opposition, and without a standard. They ask 
for power on any conditions. They are willing to join any 
other party, if, by combination, they can defeat the democracy, 
provided the victory, if gained, may be called their victory. 

There is too much truth in the remark of Matthew Carey, 
addressed by that writer, in the Olive Branch, to the federal 
party, in 1814, as applicable to the whig party of the present 
day : " Your party rises as your country sinks ; it sinks as 
your country rises." 

When General Jackson was elevated to the presidency, they 
knew no precedent so dangerous as to elect a " military 
chieftain " to that high office. Now they have deserted their 
own great leaders because without prospect of success, and 
have confirmed the nomination of an independent candidate 
who acknowledges no party, and who is distinguished only as 
a military chieftain. He was one of the principal heroes of 
the Mexican war. They opposed the war, not because they 
deemed it unjust ; not because they were friendly to Mexico, — 
for while they were busy in their opposition, they voted 
supplies for the army and abused the Mexicans, — but because 
they had been opposed to the government of the people ; and, 
to be consistent, their opposition must be still continued. When 
it was found that the hero of Buena Vista was an available 
candidate, they came forward to sustain him as tlieir candi- 
date, not because they approved his views, or that he was 



PARTY VIEAVS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 173 

pledged to sustain theirs, but because he was placed in opposi- 
tion to the candidate of the people. They had, in Massachu- 
setts, refused to vote him thanks for faithfully serving his coun- 
try ; not because they deenned him unworthy, but because they 
were opposed to the administration that enabled him to become 
distinguished. Now that the war is finished, they participate 
in its glory, and are ready to make him president of the 
United States, not because he is conversant with the great 
principles of government, and has had experience in the 
administration of its affairs, but because he was successful in 
killing the Mexicans ; and yet, but a few months ago, they de- 
clared it the enormity of sins that they were killed at all. But 
it may be said, that " this luas done under orders /" 

This is infinitely worse. They are even willing to sustain 
General Taylor, as their candidate, at the expense of his 
honor and integrity, — to make it appear that he considered 
himself a mere hirelings and was ready to fight in an unjust war 
for a salary ! * 

If General Taylor be what many suppose him, — a man of 
sound sense, of firmness, of patriotism, of honor, and integ- 
rity ; a gentleman of wealth, and wanting the aid of no man, 
of no government ; a man, indeed, fitted by nature and educa- 
tion to honor the highest office of this country, — how shall we 
speak of a deliberate opinion, that such a person, a citizen 
soldier, should plan the destruction of an innocent people, the 
people of an injured nation ! 

Having a high respect for that distinguished officer, we 
doubt much whether he will consider such views either as 
creditable to their authors or complimentary to himself. If he 
should prove to be the choice of the people, and if we are 
correct with respect to the peculiar features of his character, this 
party, we are inclined to believe, will have but little reason to 
congratulate themselves upon that influence which they covet, 

* Our army is made up of citizens ; its officers are citizens ; and 
if any deem a war unjust, the way is open for resignation. 

15* 



174 PARTY VIEWS AND PARTY PRINCIPLES. 

or upon that harmony of views, of which they speak so much, 
and know so little. 

Upon the subject of slavery, this party is disposed to take 
both sides of the question. It opposes Governor Cass because 
he is against the Wilmot Proviso. It opposes the Wilmot Pro- 
viso, because General Taylor is not in favor of it. It opposes 
Governor Cass, because he upholds the South in their constitu- 
tional rights in regard to slavery. It favors General Taylor, 
although they know him to be pledged, as a citizen and slave- 
holder, to sustain those interests which include his own. 

We point out these peculiar inconsistencies to illustrate our 
views, rather than to enjoy any satisfaction which such an 
analysis yields. We candidly confess there is no pleasure to 
be derived from facts which seem to indicate so little self- 
respect, so little regard for party integrity, and so little faith 
in their own supposed great principles. 

A review of the democratic party of this country would 
exhibit results highly gratifying, but our limits preclude it in 
this place. It has had its share of error, unquestionably, but 
of its permanency, its triumphant success, no one can doubt. 
Its measures have become a part of history. Its views have 
made the nation's policy, and its principles the nation's glory. 

In this connection it is but an act of justice, due alike to the 
present administration, and to the people, to notice two great 
measures which have already proved the profound sagacity of 
their projectors, and have added strength and glory to the 
democratic party. We allude to the " constitutional treas- 
ury," and the tariff of 1846. 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY. 175 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY. 



The question of the currency is one of the most important, 
the most difficuh, that can claim the action of government or 
the attention of the people. 

Without a good system of currency, enterprise loses its in- 
ducements, business becomes confused, and industry fails to 
receive its just reward. 

In the currency of a country every man's interest is in- 
volved, and as it is regulated by government, as a question it is 
frequently made an engine of political influence. Its peculiar 
power is well understood by politicians. If times are prosper- 
ous, credit is given to the government for judicious manage- 
ment, even though government has done nothing to make 
them so. If times are adverse or disastrous, then the govern- 
ment is made responsible for the folly of the people, or their 
institutions ; and many are ready to unite in opposition to all 
its measures, though the subject of the currency may not be 
involved in any one of them. 

A good system may be badly managed, or a bad system 
may be well managed, and both appear equally successful. 
A good system may be perverted, or subjected to extraneous 
influences. It becomes, therefore, a matter of great impor- 
tance that a system should be as free as possible from all these 
contingent relations. That it should be independent in its oper- 
ations of those circumstances of interest, excess of transaction, 
or adverse results of trade, of which this country has no 



176 THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY. 

occasion to be advised. That its safeguards should be within 
itself, standing as a whole, in relation to the people. 

As yet such a system has not been reached. The different 
States have different banking systems, and with what success 
they have managed their affairs may be inferred from the 
fact that in fifty years — from 1789 to 1841 — 395 banks 
failed, involving a total loss to the country of nearly 
$400,000,000.* 

These systems in the different States have diversity of 
merit ; but the greatest source of difficulty in all failures of 
banks, has been found to be in their mismanagement. There 
is one feature, however, which is common to them all. They 
admit a specie basis of silver and gold. This, then, is the only 
true standard known to, or that can be recognized by, our gen- 
eral government. 

It is true, at one period there was an United States Bank, an 
institution which appeared to accommodate the whole country. 
It was chartered, however, with no peculiar provisions not 
adopted by the State banks. It had a large capital, and it had 
its branches. Its basis, and its mode of doing business were 
nearly the same as those of the State institutions. It was 

* In 1841, the secretary of the treasury, the Hon. Levi Woodbury, 
made an able report on " the losses by the general government, 
and by the people of the United States, from the use of banks and 
bank paper," from which we take the following 



by bank failures, $108,882,721 

Losses by suspension of specie payments by banks ; 

consequent depreciation on their notes, ------ 95,000,000 

Losses by destruction of bank notes by accident, - - - 7,121,332 
Losses by counterfeit bank notes, beyond losses by coin, 4,444,444 
Losses by fluctuations in bank currency affecting prices, 
extravagance in living, sacrifices of property, and by 
only a part of the other incidents to the banking sys- 
tem, not computed above, at least, --------- 150,000,000 



Aggregate, computed, - $365,451,497 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY. 177 

exposed to the same errors, to the same dangers, to the 
same temptations. It had no vital conservative principle of 
its own. It was in the hands of men to be managed for safety 
and for interest. These two conditions are not always compat- 
ible with each other. The conditions of safety may not always 
conduce to our interests, and it is certain that our supposed 
interests do not always lead to safety. The system of discount 
is a system of credit. It is the assumption of risk, for an 
interest, and therefore subject to the contingencies of trade. 
It is more than this ; the prevailing system of discount is a 
powerful stimulant to trade, and perhaps to this source more 
than to any other, are attributable the great evils of over-trad- 
ing and speculation of the present day. The trader is induced 
to sell on credit, and to obtain discounts on all his transactions. 
In this way he makes a large capital out of his sales, although 
his real capital may be a small one. He trusts a custom- 
er a certain amount for a commission, and on a certain term 
of time, but he instantly parts with the bill of his customer to a 
bank, and pays interest, realizing ready money for a new trans- 
action. This, often repeated, is called " good business." The 
debts are transferred to the banks, and they become parties to 
the sales and risks, for interest. 

The objection to this system of discount is, that it tempts 
men to speculate beyond their means. What tem.pts one, 
tempts all ; and the aggregate of transactions soon exceeds the 
capacity of the currency of the country, and failures become 
inevitable. If it were required that every man should give 
direct security for loans, as such, and if evei-y trader who 
gave credit were required to wait for payments from his cus- 
tomers, business would become more permanent. Sales would 
be less, but profits would be more. Risks would be lessened, 
and failures could seldom happen. 

But this is not the present condition of things. The banks 
are involved in the business of the country. They are subject 
not only to the disasters of mismanagement, but to the frauds, 
errors, and follies of the whole trading and speculating com* 



178 THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY. 

munity. They part with a portion of their power of self-pro- 
tection whenever they assume a risk. They may exercise 
their best judgment, their nicest prudence, but neither good 
judgment or prudence will prevent the errors of others. 

At one time, there was no man in the country more 
respected for his sound judgment and financial skill, than 
Nicholas Biddle, president of the United States Bank, chartered 
by the State of Pennsylvania. That he had as much ability to 
manage a bank well, as any other man, we have no doubt. His 
operations were great, because his means were great ; and 
though similar mistakes in less degree had been committed by 
others, thousands of times, his errors were called great errors 
because connected with great sums. He was made to believe 
that he possessed more power than he really did possess ; and 
it is easy to see, that after this step was gained, it led to another 
and a more fatal one. He was asked to give more aid than he 
was able to give. Others were made to believe that he had 
the power, and he adopted the error, and attempted to execute 
financial impossihilities. In the end, he alone was unjustly 
held responsible. The results are before the world. The 
bank committed its errors, and lost its power. It failed. The 
government of the bank, doubtless, had its share of error in 
its operations ; but the actual causes of its failure were with 
those who subjected the institution to transactions that were in- 
evitably ruinous in their nature. It is true, the bank had the 
power to negative a proposition, but it must be remembered 
that even this is often mastered by superior influence, or supe- 
rior interests. This bank differed from other banks only in 
the extent of its capital. It was no safer because it was large. 
If it had more means it was subjected to more risks, and in no 
way was it exempted from the penalties of error, fraud, or 
mismanagement. 

It was an extraordinary foresight in President Jackson, that 
the former Bank of the United States, by his firmness and 
influence, failed to obtain a renewal of its charter. But for 
his firmness and unexampled integrity it would have been 



THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY. 179 

continued, perhaps, even to this day. He saw in it elements 
not warranted by the Constitution, and such as were dangerous 
to the best interests of the country. It was liable to great 
abuses ; it became the agent of political power, and in the 
end it even attempted to master the government itself. Its 
friends were indignant at its fall, but that indignation gave way 
to calm reflection, and, after a ruinous experiment to establish 
a similar one under a State charter, they have become per- 
suaded that the people can prosper in the absence of a United 
States Bank. 

AVhen the charter of this bank expired, our government was 
compelled to rely upon the State banks as places of deposit of 
the public funds. This was a necessity rather than a choice. 
The consequences were bad for government and fatal to some 
of the banks. It could not well be otherwise, in the nature of 
things. New transactions, risks, and temptations were multi- 
plied beyond the wants of the communities in which the banks 
were located, and losses followed. The experiment furnished 
another striking example, tending to prove that the government 
ought not to rely for the safety of its funds upon banks. 

It soon became a leading question with government, what 
system should be adopted for the collection, disbursement, and 
safe keeping of the public moneys. 

In 1840, a sub-treasury was established, but it was repealed 
by the whigs in 1841. 

The present constitutional treasury was established in 1846, 
and it commenced its operations in January, 1847. 

It takes the standard of all the banks, and receives and pays 
nothing but specie.* It is made strictly the agent of the gov- 

* ** If Congress were to pass forty statutes on the subject," said 
Mr. Webster, in 1816, *' they could not make the law more imperative 
than it now is, that nothing should be received in payment of duties 
to the government but specie. The whole strength of the govern- 
ment, I am of opinion, should be put forth to compel the payment of 
the duties and taxes to the government in the legal currency of the 
country." 



180 THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREASURY. 

eminent for the people. It loans no money, incurs no risks. 
Its business is simply to receive, to keep safely, and to pay out 
according to the requisitions of law. 

The effects of the constitutional treasury upon the banks 
have proved in the highest degree beneficial. Its reserve of 
specie is a check upon their discounts. It is not counted as a 
part of their means, and therefore cannot make a part of their 
loans. (See Appendix G G. and H H.) 

A community is not made richer by having unlimited ac- 
cess to money under the conditions of discount. Far from 
it. It is made poorer. The spirit of industry which seeks the 
use of money is generally a safe one. But the motive which 
offers money to industry is generally a selfish or a speculative 
one. Money being the ultimate object of trade, as controlling 
all classes of property, each person aims at increasing his share, 
without sufficiently thinking that the success of the few is at 
the expense of the many. 



FREE TKADE. TARIFF OF 1846. 181 



EREE TRADE. TARIFF OF 1846. 



Trade is the exchange of commodity. The basis of trade 
is industry. Industry produces, and it is the function of trade 
to exchange.* How far trade should be controlled and indus- 
try protected by law, have been the great and exciting tariff 
questions of the country. 

To understand this subject, we reduce it to its elements. To 
do it justice would require a treatise, and our brief allusion to 
it is for the purpose of asking attention to the results of the 
tariff of 1846. 

As all nations must have sources of revenue, means to pay 
the expenses of government, it becomes an important question 
how far home industry may be protected by an assessment of 
duties on articles of foreign production or manufacture, which 
are imported to displace similar articles of our own ? 

All taxes for government purposes are apt to be regarded as 
evils, and it becomes the study of the political economist, how 
these supposed evils may be balanced by a system of compen- 
sation. No direct taxes, for example, are assessed upon the 
people by the general government. But duties are imposed 
upon foreign articles ; merchants pay the duties, and the peo- 

* " Man," says Archtbisliop Whately, " might be defined as an 
animal that makes exchanges ; no other, even of those animals which 
make the nearest approach to rationality, having to all appearance 
the least notion of bartering, or in any way exchanging one thing for 
another." — Political Economy , Lecture I. 

16 



182 FREE TRADE. TARIFF OF 1846. ' 

pie pay the merchants. After all, the tax is upon the people, 
but so indirectly, that they hardly perceive it in their ordinary 
purchases at the shops. 

It may be remarked that the operative is chiefly confined in 
his purchases to home products, — his means not being suffi- 
cient to indulge in foreign luxuries, or the more costly fabrics.* 
By this exemption of necessity, he gains a partial protection on 
his labor, and the tax falls more upon his employer, or upon those 
whose means do not limit them to articles of home production. 

How far this system may be carried with undoubted advan- 
tage, is a question in the process of solution. Various experi- 
ments in this country, however, show conclusively, in our 
humble opinion, that it is a system of taxation that should be 
confined to the mere wants of government. To this extent, 
even, it is an evil. Perhaps this form of taxation is as little 
obnoxious to objection as any other, but its inequality is ob- 
vious, while its ultimate results are doubtful. Besides, it must 
be considered that this inequality is not confined to classes of 
citizens. It is to be found in the local or sectional interests 
of the country. The South may be called upon to pay 
the taxes of the North, and vice versa. Whoever prefers 
foreign products to his own, is called upon to pay for his 
preference. 

If we consider the subject of trade, we are led to inquire 
into the conditions of industry. Whatever favors the latter 
cannot injure the former, but tends to promote it. 

Industry is the employment of the human faculties in the 
great objects of life. It is moral, or physical : the moral, em- 
bracing whatever relates to man as a being of accountabil- 
ity and improvement ; and the physical, embracing whatever 
relates to man as a being of labor or skill for the means of 
subsistence. 

The great problem for solution, is, how man as a being of 

* It should be stated, however, that the operatives purchase many 
foreign imports, which are the necessaries of life, such as sugar, dif- 
ferent kinds of iron, &c. &c. 



FREE TRADE, TARIFF OF 1846. 183 

labor and skill may best succeed. As the objects of industry- 
are essentially controlled by nations, this becomes a national 
question, to be decided by each nation for itself. 

Man is both the being of production and consumption, the 
subject of want and the agent of supply. This mutual ar- 
rangement of dependence is in harmony with the great laws 
of progress, and leads to those changing modes of activity 
which develop man and nature. 

With a proper idea of the great ends of industry, we 
may better understand the conditions most conducive to suc- 
cess. 

It is the business of one man to sow and harvest the wheat ; 
of another to bolt it ; of another to find a market for the flour. 
This division of labor is applied to every thing, and leads to 
trade, commerce, and navigation. Man becomes the competi- 
tor of man throughout the world. All the products of the 
earth are placed within the reach of every people, and the 
industry of one nation is made to stimulate and to promote the 
industry of all nations. 

Inventive genius is in requisition to reach new objects, to 
increase power, and to lessen labor. Skill is demanded to 
compete with skill, and men are transferred by interest from 
country to country, to extend their knowledge, and to exert 
their peculiar powers. Railroads have made the citizens of a 
country neighbors at home, and steamships have made them 
neighbors abroad. Diversity of character leads to diversity 
of wants, and wants lead to interests. New products are dis- 
covered, new combinations and applications are developed, 
new wants are created, and new sources of comforts realized. 
Without these new resources, constantly springing up on the 
great highway of time, industry would be checked by the 
increase of population, or by the increased power of produc- 
tion, and man would become indolent and corrupt, and nations 
would suffer and decay. But loith these resources, what but 
freedom of thought, of action, of labor, of trade, of enter- 
prise, will subserve the great interests of man 7 How else can 



184 FREE TRADE. TARIFF OF 1846. 

we he true to the laws which are written ly the hand of Provi- 
dence upon the hroad face of nature ? * 

There is no condition exempt from labor, it is the common 
lot of humanity. The idle suffer, and their suffering is more 
than labor. The life of an idle man is short. The same is 
true of nations. Labor is the condition of success, industry 
of comfort, integrity of happiness. Whatever promotes these 
promotes the good of a country. Whatever competition is to 
the individual, industry is to the nation. 

It is a wise law of Providence, that the business of man 
shall subserve his moral being, and that his business success is 
made to depend, in a great measure, on his moral integrity. 
Men and nations are brought together by their wants and inter- 
ests. Examples of failure serve to illustrate causes of success. 
Competition invites to improvement and progress. Men learn 
the conditions of prosperity, and the penalties of error and sin. 

* " The introduction of the principles of free trade removes many 
of the causes of sectional jealousies, and diminishes the subjects of 
necessary legislation. If the extension of our people increases the 
difficulties of free government, the march of mind develops new 
resotirces for overcoming them. That there are limits to this capa- 
city is not to be denied ; but it is equal, I believe, to the accomplish- 
ment of the mission upon which we were sent. Can a more magnifi- 
cent destiny be conceived than the realization of such hopes r — to 
fill a continent of space with all the elements of light, life, and 
civilization, in their ptirest forms and highest combination ; to wring 
from the reluctant grasp of earth the fruits which she yields only to 
human skill and industry, and to discover resources in the boundless 
stores of nature for every new or increasing want which a progressive 
civilization may develop ; to acquire a moral influence more extensive 
and enduring than any power of the sword, and which enforces 
homage, not from the lips, but the heart of every human being who 
can feel the force of beneficent example. Happy ourselves, and the 
cause of happiness in others, what higher tribute could we offer to 
Him who has endowed us with unparalleled advantages, than the 
spectacle of such a power guided by the spirit of justice and modera- 
tion, and directed to virtuous ends ? " — Speech of the Hon. Mr. Hunter ^ 
U. S. Senate, Feb. 1848. 



FREE TRADE. TARIFF OF 1846. 185 

They are self-moved to avoid the one and to observe the 
other. . • 

With a knowledge of these laws, it is easy to see that 
the greater the freedom given to the industry and trade of a 
nation, the greater are the inducements to activity.* If its 
people are ambitious to excel, they have before them the en- 
couragements of a world. 

If nations would prosper and live, their only hope is to be 
found in their intelligence, industry, and faithfulness. The 
subject of free trade is not one merely of pecuniary relations, 
— these afford only the means of advance. It is a subject of 
moral interest, and one of deep concern to posterity. 

If the prohibitory system were right for one nation, it would 
be right for all nations, — and commerce would cease. This 
course is not adopted because it is opposed to the interests and 
experience of all — as already ascertained. 

The protective policy, as such, has its domestic evils. Its 
encouragements lead to excesses, and to instability. t Its in- 
ducements to enterprise fluctuate and become neutralized by 
home competition. It diverts labor from its accustomed chan- 
nels to temporary objects, at a loss to the poor. It gives rise 
to corporations with power of capital detached from the con- 
ditions of industry, which tend to prostrate individual enter- 
prise. It builds up factories and takes the young from their 

* See Appendix 1 1. 

t "In 1828, the manufacturers, as a body, failed. It was much 
easier to tell who had survived the shock than to enumerate all that 
had fallen. A tariff was passed to save them, and they failed the 
faster after it was passed, besides the commercial failures which fol- 
lowed, not of people who had been insolvent for years, but of those 
who a year before were worth their tens of thousands, not to say 
their hundreds of thousands of dollars, and who had managed their 
business with ability and prudence. During most of the year 1829, 
the pressure continued till factory stock could hardly be given away, 
and shares which cost a thousand dollars, in some cases were sold for 
a five dollar bill, and in others would not bring that price." — From 
a Speech delivered in Salem, March, 1834, brj Hon. RobeH Rantoul, Jr. 

16* 



186 FREE TRADE. TARIFF OF 1846. 

schools, and from the moral atmosphere of their homes.* It 
gives birth to cities, made up of people linked with mere 
machinery, without adequate means of moral and intellectual 
culture. We do not speak of examples, but of tendency. 
This country has not age enough to see the results of such a 
policy, and we are rejoiced to know that we have men of suffi- 
cient wisdom to establish a system that promises permanency 
and prosperity. 



* It is scarcely possible to speak of the vast accumulation of 
masses of human beings in th.e manufacturing districts — ^Hhe crowded 
hives" as they have been called, — without something like anxiety 
and apprehension." 

" The employment of infant labor is very generally ujrged as the 
worst feature in the factory system, but it is generally recognized 
that tills is a resiilt of a greater evil, and in many cases an allevia- 
tion of it, arising from the disturbance of the parental and filial 
relations in manufacturing districts. The operatives are absent from 
home all day, and in many cases, from the crowded state of the 
lodging-houses, have no opportunity for conversation or social union 
with their families at night. Hence there is a want of those domes- 
tic feelings, reciprocally fostered by domestic intercourse — a want 
which, to the operatives themselves, is ' a craving void,' scarcely 
suspected by those who are not intimate with their condition. 
Mothers remain at the mill during the period of their pregnancy to 
the very last hour of physical endurance, and they return to work 
at the earliest possible moment after their recovery. Hence there is 
a sad waste of infant life during the periods of lactation and teething, 
and when this critical time is past, there is an absence of parental care 
and superintendence, which exposes children to forming habits of 
vagrancy and idleness." 

*• To destroy the factory system is not practicable if it were desir- 
able, nor quite desirable if practicable. But though we cannot des- 
troy, we may use and regiilate ; we may so mould the course of its 
development as to render it the source of increased morality, in- 
creased prosperity, and increased social happiness to the British 
empire, and to every individual that empire contains." — Taylor's 
Natural History of Society. 

The people of the United States should be admonished by the 
experience of Great Britain. 



FREE TRADE. TARIFF OF 1846. 187 

We should regret to have our views construed as hostile to 
the manufacturing interests of this country. Far from it. We 
would favor them, foster them, encourage them. Not by false 
hopes, or deceptive measures of protection, but by extending 
their markets and improving their fabrics. We would com- 
mend to them a business of prudence, in preference to one of 
risk ; a permanent business, instead of a fluctuating one ; an 
individual interest in preference to a company interest ; and 
moderate dividends, that shall be uniform, in preference to 
large dividends, which are occasional. 

To no citizen is our country more indebted for enlightened 
and practical views upon the tariff question than to the present 
able secretary of the treasury, the Hon. Robert J. Walker. 
His thoughts have become acts, and his experiments have 
become the policy of the nation. When we consider with 
what ability his opponents were arrayed against him, with 
what influences of rank and weaUh they sought to establish an 
opposite system, we cannot but regard his victory as one of the 
greatest moral triumphs of the age. What Cobden has done 
for England, he has done for America. (See Appendix 
J J.) 



APPENDIX. 



DECLARATION OF RIGHTS 

OF THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, OCTOBER 14, 1774* 

" Whereas, since the close of the last war, the British Parliament, 
claiming a power of right to bind the people of America by stat- 
utes in all cases whatsoever, hath in some acts expressly imposed 
taxes on them, and in others, under various pretences, but in fact 
for the purpose of raising a revenue, hath imposed rates and duties 
payable in these colonies, established a board of commissioners, 
with unconstitutional powers, and extended the jurisdiction of Courts 
of Admiralty, not only for collecting the said duties, but for the trial 
of causes merely arising within the body of a county : 

" And whereas, in consequence of other statutes, judges, who 
before held only estates at will in their offices, have been made 
dependent on the crown alone for their salaries, and standing 
armies kept in times of peace ; and whereas it has lately been 
resolved in Parliament, that by force of a statute, made in the 
tliirty-fifth year of the reign of King Henry tlie Eighth, colonists 
may be transported to England, and tried there, upon accusations 
for treasons and misprisions, or concealments, of treasons committed 
in the colonies, and by a late statute, such trials have been directed 
in cases therein mentioned : 

" And whereas, in the last session of Parliament, three statutes 
were made ; one entitled ' An Act to discontinue, in such manner, 
and for such time, as are therein mentioned, the landing and dis- 
charging, lading, or shipping of goods, wares, and merchandise, at 
the town and within the harbor of Boston, in the Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, in North America;' another entitled 'An Act 
for the better regulating the government of the Province of Massa- 
chusetts Bay, in New England ; ' and another entitled ' An Act for 



190 



APPEISDIX. 



the impartial administration of justice, in the cases of persons 
questioned for any act done by them in the execution of the law, 
or for the suppression of riots and tumults, in the Province of the 
Massachusetts Bay, in New England : ' And another statute was 
then made, ' for making- more effectual provision for the government 
of the Province of Quebec,' &.c. All which statutes are impolitic, 
unjust, and cruel, as well as unconstitutional, and most dangerous 
and destructive of American rights : 

" And whereas, assemblies have been frequently dissolved, con- 
trary to tlie rights of the people, when they attempted to deliberate 
on grievances ; and their dutiful, humble, loyal, and reasonable, 
petitions to the crown for redress have been repeatedly treated 
with contempt, by his majesty's ministers of state : 

" The good people of the several colonies of New Hampshire, 
Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Con- 
necticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Newcastle, Kent, 
and Sussex, on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and 
South Carolina, justly alarmed at these arbitrary proceedings of 
Parliament and administration, have severally elected, constituted, 
and appointed Deputies to meet and sit in General Congress, in the 
city of Philadelphia, in order to obtain such establishment, as that 
their religion, laws, and liberties may not be subverted ; whereupon 
the deputies so appointed being now assembled, in a full and free 
representation of these colonies, taking into their most serious con- 
sideration the best means of attaining the ends aforesaid, do, in the 
first place, as Englishmen their ancestors in like cases have usually 
done, for as.serting and vindicating their rights and liberties, 
DECLARE, 

" That tlie inhabitants of the English colonies in North America, 
by the immutable laws of nature, the principles of the English 
Constitution, and the several charters or compacts, have the fol- 
lowing RIGHTS : ~ 

" Resolved, N. C. D.* 1. That they are entitled to life, liberty, 
and property ; and they have never ceded to any sovereign power 
whatever a right to dispose of either, without their consent. 

" Resolved, N. C. D. 2. That our ancestors, who first settled 
these colonies, were, at the time of their emigration from the 
mother country, entitled to all the rights, liberties, and immunities, 
of free and natural-born subjects, within the realm of England. 

* Nernine contradicente, no person opposing, or disagreeing. 



APPENDIX. 191 

^^ Resolved, N. C. D. 3. That by such emigration, they by no 
means forfeited, surrendered, or lost, any of those rights, but that 
they were, and their descendants now are, entitled to the exercise 
and enjoyment of all such of them as their local and other circum- 
stances enable them to exercise and enjoy. 

" Resolved, 4. That the foundation of English liberty, and of all 
free government, is, a right in the people to participate in their 
legislative council ; and as the English colonists are not repre- 
sented, and, from their local and other circumstances, cannot 
properly be represented, in the British Parliament, tliey are entitled 
to a free and exclusive power of legislation in tlieir several pro- 
vincial legislatures, where their right of representation can alone 
be preserved, in all cases of taxation and internal polity, subject 
only to the negative of their sovereign, in such manner as has been 
heretofore used and accustomed ; but, from the necessity of the case 
and a regard to the mutual interests of both countries, we cheer- 
fully consent to the operation of such acts of the British Parliament, 
as are, bonajide, restrained to the regulation of our external com- 
merce, for the purpose of securing the commercial advantages of 
the whole empire to the mother country, and the commercial bene- 
fits of its respective members ; excluding every idea of taxation, 
internal or external, for raising a revenue on the subjects in Amer- 
ica, without their consent. 

" Resolved, N. C. D. 5. That the respective colonies are entitled 
to the common law of England, and more especially to the great 
and inestimable privilege of being tried by their peers of the 
vicinage, according to the course of that law. 

" Resolved, 6. That they are entitled to tlie benefit of such of 
the English statutes as existed at tlie time of their colonization ; 
and which they have, by experience, respectively found to be appli- 
cable to their several local and other circumstances. 

" Resolved, N. C. T>: 7. That these, his majesty's colonies, are 
likewise entitled to all the immunities and privileges granted and 
confirmed to them by royal charters, or secured by their several 
codes of provincial laws. 

^^ Resolved, N. C. D. 8. That they have a right peaceably to 
assemble, consider of their grievances, and petition tlie king ; and 
that all prosecutions, prohibitory proclamations, and commitments 
for the same, are illegal. 

" Resolved, N. C. D. 9. That the keeping a standing army in 



192 APPENDIX. 

these colonies, in times of peace, without the consent of the legis- 
lature of that colony in which such army is kept, is against law. 

^'' Resolved, N. C. D. 10. It is indispensably necessary to good 
government, and rendered essential by the English Constitution, 
that the constituent branches of the legislature be independent of 
each other ; that, therefore, the exercise of legislative power, in 
several colonies, by a council appointed, during pleasure, by the 
crown, is unconstitutional, dangerous, and destructive to the free- 
dom of American legislation. 

" All and each of which, the aforesaid deputies, in behalf of them- 
selves and their constituents, do claim, demand, and insist on, as 
their indubitable rights and liberties ; which cannot be legally taken 
from them, altered, or abridged, by any power whatever, without 
their own consent, by their representatives, in their several provin- 
cial legislatures." 



The Press, Railroads, and the Magnetic Telegraph. 

" Intelligence is diffused with unparalleled universality ; a free 
press teems with the choicest productions of all nations and ages. 
There are more daily journals in the United States tlian in the 
world beside. A public document of general interest is, within a 
month, reproduced in at least a million of copies, and is brought 
within the reach of every freeman in the country." — Bancroft's 
Hist U. S. 

This was true in 1834 ; and since that time improvements of every 
kind have been multiplied to a degree truly astonishing. Steam- 
ships arrive from Great Britain, either at Boston or New York, every 
week ; and we have an extent of railroads in the United States of 
more than 6000 miles ; an extent of the magnetic telegraph conductor, 
completed at the present time of more than 5000 miles, and project- 
ed, and advancing rapidly towards completion, about 11,000 miles. 
Some of the companies are extending a second line between the prin- 
cipal cities. These are embraced in the above estimate. 

The following beautiful passage occurs in the speech of Governor 
Cass, delivered in the U. S. Senate, February 10, 1847, on the Three 
Million Bill : — 

" The senator from South Carolina has presented some views of 



APPENDIX. 193 

our augmenting population as true as they are striking. At the 
commencement of his life and of mine, this country contained three 
millions of inhabitants, giving a rate of increase which doubles 
our numbers every twenty-two years. There are those yet living 
who will live to see our confederacy numbering a population equal 
to the Chinese empire. This stupendous progress outstrips the 
imagination. The mind cannot keep up with the fact. It toils after 
it in vain ; and as we increase in numbers and extend in space, our 
power of communication is still more augmented. The telegraph 
has come with its wonderful process to bind still closer the portions 
of this empire, as these recede from its capital. It is the most 
admirable invention of modern days. We can now answer the 
sublime interrogatory put to Job : ' Canst thou send lightnings, that 
they may go, and say unto thee. Here we are ! ' Yes, the corus- 
cations of heaven man has reduced to obedience, and they say unto 
him. Here we are. It is yet in its infancy — an experiment, rather 
than an arrangement. Who can tell where future improvements 
may conduct it, or what sway it may hereafter exercise over the 
social and political condition of the world ? what people it may 
bring together and keep together by the power of instantaneous 
communication ? or how the events of distant nations, told almost 
to the other side of the globe, the very moment of their occurrence, 
may affect the future destiny of mankind ? " 



• C. 

From the Speech of Hon. H. V. JoJimon, U. S. Senate, delivered 
Februanj, 1848. 

" In the progress of the discussions on the topics connected with 
the w^ar, a good deal lias been said in ridicule of what is called 
'manifest destiny.' Now, sir, I am a believer in this doctrine ; but 
I would not employ precisely these words to express my opinion. 
I would say, that I believe it to be the manifest design of Provi- 
dence, either that the whole of NortJi America should be embraced 
within our Republic, or that, tln-ough the influence of our institu- 
tions, it is to become the theatre of the highest civilization and 
freedom. Yet, sir, I am no propagandist. I would not force the 
adoption of our form of government upon any people by the sword. 
But if war is forced upon us, as this has been, and the increase of 
17 



194 APPENDIX. 

our territory, and consequently the extension of the area of human 
liberty and happiness, shall be one of the incidents of such a con- 
test, I believe we should be recreant to our noble mission, if we 
refused acquiescence in the high purposes of a wise Providence. 
War has its evils. In all ages it has been the minister of wholesale 
death and appalling desolation ; but, however inscrutable to us, it 
has also been made, by the all-wise Dispenser of events, the instru- 
mentality of accomplishing tlie great end of human elevation and 
human happiness. Civilization, like her heaven-born pioneer mother, 
Christianity, has been compelled to force on her steady march, for 
more than eighteen hundred years, amidst the revolutions of em- 
pires, which have stained with blood her robe of whiteness. But, 
converting every obstacle to her progTess into a weapon of victory, 
she shall encincture the globe with her girdle of light. It is in 
this view that I subscribe to the doctrine of ' manifest destiny.' It 
is in this view that I believe the whole of North America is conse- 
crated to freedom. Neither legislation nor treaties can set bounds 
to the triumphant spirit of the age, which threatens thrones and 
dynasties, and augurs an entire remodelling and renovation of the 
social and political condition of the world. The results of war 
and the developments of science are but the echoes of the voice 
of Prophecy. The one opens the door for civilization, and the other 
sends its ministers by the power of steam, and speeds them upon 
the wing of the 'seraphic lightning.'" 

From the Speech of Hon. Mr. Ihmter, U. S. Senate, 1848. 

" If my imagination were tasked to select the highest blessing 
for my countrymen, I should say. May they be true to themselves 
and faithful to their mission. I can conceive of nothing which it is 
possible for human effort to attain, greater than the destiny which 
we may reasonably hope to fulfil. If war has its dreams, dazzling 
in splendid pageantry, peace also has its visions of a more enduring 
form, of a higher and purer beauty. To solve by practical demon- 
stration the grand problem of increasing social power consistently 
with personal freedom — to increase the efficiency of the human 
agent by enlarging individual liberty — to triumph over, not only 
the physical, but, more difficult still, the moral difficulties which lie 
in the path of man's progress, and to adorn that path with all that 
is rare and useful in art, and whatever is highest in civilization, are, 
in my opinion, the noblest achievements of which a nation is capa- 
ble. These are the ends to which our ambition should be directed." 



APPENDIX. 195 

D. 

Fromthe S>peech of the Hon. R. Johtison, U. S. Senate, Jan. 10, 11, 1848. 

" Sir, I am not to be driven into a different course by being told 
that it would leave us a pecuniary loss. With me, Mr. President, 
loss of money is nothing to loss of character. With me the bound- 
less wealtli of the world would be as nothing, compared with what 
I should esteem the incalculable loss attending the destruction of 
our national character. But, sir, it is not true that a peace accom- 
plished on the terms to which I have referred would leave us with- 
out indemnity. Sir, v/e have indemnity in the history of this war. 
It is to be found in the many glorious battle-fields which it has pre- 
sented to an astonished world. It is to be found in the delight 
which electrified every American heart at the result of every con- 
flict. It is to be found in the security which it furnishes against 
the disturbers of our peace hereafter. A few hundreds of millions, 
(even if it should go to hundreds,) that may be expended, vv^ill be 
forgotten even while spoken of, while the glory and renown which 
it has heaped upon the American character will be remembered as 
long as time itself shall endure. I am not, therefore, to be told 
that peace on such terms would leave us losers, in the true, high, 
and moral sense of the term." 



E. 

PLAN OF IGUALA. 

" Art. 1. The Mexican nation is independent of the Spanish 
nation, and of every other, even on its own continent. 

" Art. 2. Its religion shall be the Catholic, which all its inhab- 
itants profess. 

" Art. 3. They shall be united, without any distinction between 
Americans and Europeans. 

" Art. 4. The government shall be a constitutional monarchy. 

" Art. 5. A junta shall be named, consisting of individuals who 
enjoy the highest reputation in the different parties which have 
shown themselves. 

"Art. 6. This junta shall be under the presidency of his excellen- 
cy the Count del Venadito, the present viceroy of Mexico. 



196 APPENDIX. 

" Art. 7. It shall govern in the name of the nation, according to 
the laws now in force, and its principal business shall be to convoke, 
according to such rules as it shall deem expedient, a Congress for 
the formation of a constitution more suitable to the country. 

"Art. 8. His majesty Ferdinand VII. shall be invited to the throne 
of the empire, and in case of his refusal, the Infantes Don Carlos 
and Don Francisco de Paula. 

" Art. 9. Should his majesty Ferdinand VII. and his august broth- 
ers decline the invitation, the nation is at liberty to invite to the im- 
perial tlirone any member of reigning families whom it may select. 

" Art. 10. The formation of the constitution by the Congress, and 
the oath of the emperor to observe it, must precede his entry into 
the country. 

"Art. 11. The distinction of castes is abolished, which was made 
by the Spanish law, excluding them from the rights of citizenship. 
All the inhabitants of the country are citizens and equal, and the 
door of advancement is open to virtue and merit. 

"Art. 12. An army shall be formed for the support of religion, 
independence, and union, guarantying these three principles, and 
tlierefore shall be called the army of tlie three guaranties. 

" Art. J 3. It shall solemnly swear to defend the fundamental 
bases of this plan. 

" Art. 14. It shall strictly observe the military ordinances now in 
force. 

" Art. 15. There shall be no other promotions than those that are 
due to seniority, or which shall be necessary to the good of the 
service. 

"Art. 16. This army shall be considered as of the line. 

" Art. 17. The old partisans of independence, who shall immedi- 
ately adhere to this plan, shall be considered as individuals of this 
army. 

" Art. 18. The patriots and peasants who shall adhere to it here- 
after, shall be considered as provincial militia men. 

" Art. 19. The secular and regular priests shall be continued in 
the state in which they now are. 

"Art. 20. All the public functionaries, — civil, ecclesiastical, 
political, and military, — who adhere to the cause of independence, 
shall be continued in their offices, without any distinction between 
Americans and Europeans. 

" Art. 21. Those functionaries, of whatever degree and condition, 



APPENDIX. 197 

who dissent from the cause of independence, shall be divested of 
their offices, and shall quit the territory of the empire, taking with 
them their families and their effects. 

" Art. 22. The military commandants shall regulate according to 
the general instructions in conformity with this Plan, which shall be 
transmitted to them. 

" Art. 23. No accused person shall be condemned capitally by tlie 
military commandants. Those accused of treason against the na- 
tion, which is the next greatest crime after that of treason to the 
divine Ruler, shall be conveyed to the fortress of Barrabas, where 
they shall remain until the Congress shall resolve on the punish- 
ment which ought to be inflicted on them. 

"Art. 24. It being indispensable to the country that this Plan 
should be carried into effect, inasmuch as the welfare of that country 
is its object, every individual of the army shall maintain it to the 
shedding, if it be necessary, of the last drop of his blood. 

" Town of Iguala, > 

24^A February, 1821." > 



MEXICAN AGGRESSIONS. 

We think it may not prove uninteresting to the reader to know 
the nature of the claims of our citizens upon Mexico. We give a 
list of a portion of them, compiled by the Hon. Edmund Burke, 
in 1846, remarking merely, by way of introduction, that they are 
all taken from documents now on file in the department of state in 
Washington. Most of those occumng prior to Dec. 2, 1837, will be 
found in a letter of the Hon. John Forsyth, secretary of state, 
to the president, and published with the annual message of that 
year, in House Doc. 3, 2d Sess. 25th Congress. 

Abstract of a Statement marked A, accompanying Mr. Forsyth's Report 
upon Mexieati Relatione, dated Dec. 2, 1837, a7id addressed to the Pres- 
ident. 

"claims on MEXICO. 

"No. 1. A. P. Cheuteau and J. DeMun. — These persons, who 
were chiefs of a hunting expedition, were, with their companions, 
17* 



198 APPENDIX. 

arrested by authorities of Mexico in 1817, carried to Sante Fe, 
where they were imprisoned and otherwise maltreated. The value 
of the property lost by them was represented to be $30,380 74i. 

" No. 2. Brig Cossack. — This vessel and her cargo were seized 
by the authorities of Mazatlan, in Mexico, in January, 1818, and con- 
demned by a decree (of what authority is not stated) dated 21st 
July, 1819. Upon a reconsideration or appeal of the case, it was 
decreed, on the 27th of July, 1821, that the master and crew should 
be liberated, and that the money deposited in the national treasury on 
account of her sale and that of her cargo, should be paid over to the 
master. This decree was never executed. 

" No. 3. Cai'go of the Ship Louisa, of Providence. — The cargo of 
this ship, consisting of arms, cordage, and flour, with other provis- 
ions, was seized at the port of Acapulco, in 1821, by orders of Don 
Augustin de Iturbide, and appropriated to the use of tlie Mexican 
government. Feb. 1, that government decreed payment of damages 
to the OAvners, in the sum of $48,363. Only $14,418 has been paid. 

"Nos. 4, 5, 6. — These claims are for the unlawful seizure and 
detention of specie belonging to American citizens, amounting in 
all to over $25,000. It was taken by officers of the Mexican gov- 
ernment, under orders of the emperor Iturbide, while on its way to 
Vera Cruz, in the year 1822. 

" No. 7. John K. West and others. — The claim in this case is for a 
bill of exchange drawn by Don Jos. M. de Herrera, as agent of the 
Mexican government, and for supplies sent by his direction. 

" No. 8. Brig lAherty, Myric,Master. — This vessel was seized by 
the Mexican government schooner Iguala, off Alvarado, on the 4th 
of May, 1824. The captain and crew were ill treated, and sent up to 
town. The claim in the case is for vessel and freight ; the Atlantic 
Insurance Company, in New York, having insured the former at 
$3500, and the latter at $4000. The vessel sailed from Havana 
in March, 1824, and arrived at Pensacolaon the 14th of April, where 
she paid about $12,000 duties on her cargo. She sailed thence 
with a regular clearance for Alvarado. After her seizure there,- a 
judicial tribunal directed the brig to be restored, but no freight was 



I 



APPENDIX. 199 

paid. The vessel, however, had been so long detamed, and so badly 
tal:en care of, that but sixty-four dollars were realized after paying 
expenses of sale. To the claim preferred by Mr. Poinsett for indem- 
nification, the Mexican secretary of state replied, that officers who 
maM captures are liable to he sued in Mexican courts of justice, in case 
they proceed illegally. 

" No. 9. Brig Cato. — This vessel was boarded at Alvaradp, on the 
25th of August, 1824, by some twenty men, who riiSd h%- of $2701 
in specie, and of numerous other articles. After threaten})!^ the life 
of the captain, and wounding two of the crew, they Mi^ihe vessel 
adrift by cutting her chain cable, which, with the fiji^pr, were lost. 
The claim in this case is for $5544. f,/ ' 



" No. 10. Schoo7ier Leda. — In this case $988 are claimed for the 
detention of this vessel some two and a half months at Tobasco, in 
1824, and for the unlawful exaction of tonnage duties in August of 
that year. 

"No. 11. Borie fy Laguerenne and others. — This claim on the 
Mexican government is for a return of an overcharge of duties lev- 
ied and collected contrary to prior usage, if not to law, on the 
importation of several parcels of iVmerican cotton, imported into 
Alvarado in November and December, 1824, and January, 1825, by 
merchants of Philadelphia and New York. The arapunt claimed is 
$32,721, with interest from February, 1825. .;>^^ \.y 

" No. 12. Schooner Felix, and Cargo. — This vessel sailed from New 
Orleans, in August, 1825, and on the 7th of September, anchored in 
the Soto la Marina roads or harbor, where she was taken possession 
of on the same day by the Mexican vessel Tampic. She was con- 
demned on the ground that she had articles on board of Spanish 
origin. Her insurance was $30,000. 

" No. 13. Brig Delight, of Philadelphia. A double Claim. — This 
vessel, in March, 1825, touched at San Bias, where the officers of the 
custom-house compelled the conveyance of her cargo over a mile to 
the custom-house stores, and its reshipment. The damage to the 
owners was estimated at $3716 48. The same vessel entered the 
port of Sisal in September of the same year, where she was seized 



200 



APPENDIX. 



by the collector with an armed force, part of her cargo forced on 
shore, her hatches broken open, and the cargo taken to the custom- 
house. Estimate of damages arising from the condemnation and 
sale of the cargo, &c., $15,692 50. The Mexican secretary of the 
treasury had assured Mr. Poinsett tliat an order had been given to 
release the vessel and cargo. Mr. Poinsett pronounced this one of 
the most flagrant and unjustifiable violations of the property of 
American citizens on record. 

"No. 14. Schoonei' Fair Jlmencan, of Baltimore. — This vessel 
arrived at Refugio, January 4, 1826, was admitted to entry, landed 
her cargo under permit, and in part removed it to town, Avhen the 
whole was seized by the Mexican authorities, and confiscated and 
sold. The Mexican consul at Baltimore afterwards requested of his 
government that the property might be restored, and the owner 
indemnified. Mr. Wilson's claim for damages is $50,225 21, the 
justice of which was understood to be acknowledged by the 
Mexican government. To the demand of the American minister for 
damages in this case, the Mexican government made evasive replies, 
and made no answer to his last note on the subject. 

" No. 15. Schooner Superior, of JVeio York. — This vessel was 
seized by a Mexican gun-boat in the port of Laguira, on the 23d of 
February, 1826, on a charge of smuggling. The American minister 
disproved this charge by the fact that the vessel, after trial, was not 
condemned. An authenticated account accompanies Mr. Poinsett's 
letter, setting forth the unjustifiable manner of the seizure, the 
absence of all proof, and the wanton and shameful violence exer- 
cised towards the crew. The delay caused by the seizure of the 
vessel, and her abandonment on account of her becoming worm- 
eaten, are the grounds of this claim. 

" No. 16. Andrews's Claim for Seizure of Wax at Alvarado. — This 
claim arises from the seizure by the Mexican government of 
$1631 25 worth of wax, on the pretence tliat it was of Spanish ori- 
gin. This wax was originally shipped from St. Petersburg!! to New 
York, and from thence to Vera Cruz, when, not finding a ready sale 
after entry, the owners determined to reship it, but were prevented 
by the authorities. 



APPENDIX. 201 

" No. 17. Ship Franklin and Brig Barrian, of Boston. — These 
vessels formed an expedition, owned and fitted oat by sundry per- 
sons of Boston and Salem, at an expense of $90,175 02. In pursu- 
ance of their instructions, they traded at various places on the coast 
of California, paying tlie customary duties. On the 16th May, 1828, 
they were forbid further trading till the whole cargo was landed at 
St. Diego, and all duties paid to the commanding general of Cali- 
fornia. Declining to do this, they proceeded to the Island of St. 
Catalina, to land and cure hides. Concluding to return to St. Diego, 
they then, under a written agreement with the governor, landed all 
their cargo not left at the island, which was estimated at $47,292, 
the duties of which were $13,005 30. Eschandia, the governor, 
then gave them a written permission to continue their trade, and to 
remove the property left at St. Catalina. Subsequently, on asking 
for their ship's papers, they were refused, on the pretext that the 
vessels had been to St. Catalina, contrary to some regulation of which 
they knew nothing. Notwithstanding the charge of smuggling was 
proved false, the Mexicans put a guard on board the vessel, and 
commenced removing her cargo. The captain at length refusing to 
allow any more to go on shore, no condemnation of the vessel being 
shown, the Mexican officers and soldiers went ashore. The next 
day the vessels put to sea under a destructive fire from the fort. 
They left debts due from individuals and missions, to the amount of 
$38,919 04, besides goods deposited as security for duties, which, 
with the packages taken from the ship, run up the whole claim for 
damages to $53,657 54. The whole property was afterwards con- 
fiscated without judicial proceeding. 

" No. 18. Eli E. ^ J. S. Hammond were jointly concerned in a 
trading expedition to Santa Fe in 1828. When within a few miles 
of that place, they hired a Mexican to carry a part of the goods 
with mules, on account of the roughness of the road. This man 
was arrested on a charge of smuggling, and the goods were confis- 
cated, although the Mexican was liberated. He informed the 
authorities of the circumstances of the case, but the goods were not 
restored. Hammond claims $7000 for his loss. Hammond also 
claims $6000 damages for injuries to his business in 1830, by the 
conduct of Mexican authorities, whereby great expense was in- 
curred, much time lost, and the sale of his goods to a profit de- 
stroyed. 



202 APPENDIX. 

"No. 19. Brig William, ofJVewport, R. I. — This vessel was for- 
cibly detained and impressed into the Mexican service as a transport 
in 1829. The owners claim $4999 33 damages. 

" No. 20. Brig Splendid, of JVeiv Haven. — A similar case to the 
last, whereby the owners were injured in their business to the 
amount of $2500. 

"No. 21. Brig Ursula, of Boston. — This vessel was impressed in 
the same manner into the Mexican service, to the damage of the 
owners to the amount of $2005. 

" No. 22. Pell ^' Brothers, of New York, claim damages for the 
destruction of a press and type at Tampico, by the Spaniards. 

" No. 23. Captain Shaw, of the Schooner Galaxy, claims damages 
for his detention and imprisonment at Tobasco, in 1829-30, 
whereby great injury was done to his business. He was confined 
among banditti, and was refused any intercourse with the American 
consul. A vessel, with some 40 or 50 seamen from the United 
States naval service, was subsequently sent to procure his liberation 
and that of others, which was immediately effected. 

" No. 24. Schooners Rebecca Eliza and Alert. — These vessels were 
seized at Tampico in 1829, soon after the capitulation of a Spanish 
force there. They were seized, and their cargoes confiscated, on the 
pretence that they came with the intention of selling provisions to 
the Spaniards, although they did not arrive until four days after the 
capitulation. The crews were badly treated. 

" No. 25. $8826 in damages are claimed by the owners of 
the Bng General Morelos for her seizure and detention at Vera 
Cruz in 1830, where she went from New Orleans to be fitted out as 
a privateer under Mexican authority. The Mexican courts afterward 
ordered the restoration of the vessel. 

" No. 26. The EUza Jane, of New York, put into Vera Cruz in a 
leaky condition, where she was condemned as unseaworthy and 
sold. Before transshipping the cargo, the captain was compelled to 
give bond for the payment of tonnage duty. This duty had before 



APPENDIX. 203 

been paid at the Mexican port from whence the Eliza Jane sailed. 
Her cargo .consisted of log-wood, obtained at Leguira, a Mexican 
port. 

" No. 27. John Baldwin, an American citizen, complains of gross 
and outrageous treatment at the hands of the alcalde of Minotitlan 
in Guazcualco. He asserts that the alcalde was interested in a suit 
which was brought against him by one of his subordinates. Some 
altercation occurring at the proceedings before the alcalde, he was 
ordered to the stocks. He refused to submit, and in attempting to 
escape, was shot at, and severely injured by a fall. He was captured, 
made to stand in the stocks, and afterwards imprisoned. The 
Mexican government were informed subsequently that the U. S. 
government ' would regard this a national question.' The reply of 
the Mexican executive was, that it was a matter of judicial investi- 
gation, &c. 

" No. 28. Schooner Topaz. — The master of this vessel con- 
tracted, in 1832, to transport 150 Mexican soldiers from Matamoras 
to Galveston. During the passage, the master and mate were killed 
by the Mexican officers, and the crew were forced to run the vessel 
into Anahuac. Here they were imprisoned on a charge of killing 
their captain and mate, and attempts were made by the officers 
above mentioned to make them confess to that crime. They were 
at last liberated on their agreement to be bound to the officers to 
serve them for three years. One of them subsequently escaped to 
the United States, and testified to the facts above stated. He 
states that the Mexican officers divided the captain's money 
between them. He thinks he had 3000 or 4000 dollars. 

" No. 29. The Schooner Brazoria was seized at the port of Bra- 
zoria in June, 1832, and used in an attack by the Mexicans upon 
Anahuac. She was so much injured that the owners abandoned 
her to the underwriters, who are tlie claimants in this case. The 
amount claimed is $6800. The Mexican government afterwards 
expressed a willingness to allow only the proceeds of the sale of 
the vessel to the claim.ants. 

" No. 30. Aaron Leggett, merchant of New York, claims several 
hundred thousand dollars in damages for the seizure and detention 



204 APPENDIX. 

of the steamer Hidalgo in the Tobasco River in June, 1832, and for 
damages arising therefrom. He had acquired the sole right, from 
the legislature of Tobasco, of navigating that river by steamboata 
for a period of ten years. In anticipation of the advantages that 
would arise from this privilege, he entered into very extensive con- 
tracts for the delivery of great quantities of logwood for several 
subsequent years, at different points, from whence it was to be 
carried down the river by lighters, towed by the steamer. Several 
vessels were employed by Mr. Leggett for the transportation of tlie 
logwood from Mexico. These vessels arrived at Tobasco ; but as 
the steamer had been seized by the Mexicans for military purposes, 
no cargoes were ready for them, and they returned to the ports to 
which they belonged. The owners demanded the penalties of the 
charter parties, which the claimant has paid to the extent of his 
ability. Tobasco was, in 1832, the seat of military disturbances, 
whereby Mr. Leggett suffered great loss of property, besides the 
loss of the immense profits which it is reasonable to suppose he 
Avould have obtained from the enjoyment of the g-reat privilege 
granted by the legislature of Tobasco. The Mexican government 
subsequently acknowledged tlie great losses and sacrifices of Mr. 
Leggett, but plead inability to satisfy his reasonable demands. 

" No. 31. Schooner Augustus. — This vessel put into port at 
Brazos de Santiago, in a leaky condition, on the 18th June, 1833. 
On a mere suspicion of an intention to land the cargo clandestinely 
on the Mexican coast, the vessel and cargo were seized, and after a 
detention of ten months, tlie Mexican courts awarded restitution of 
the vessel and cargo, and payment of costs and damages. Mean- 
time the vessel became worm-eaten, and it was abandoned. The 
claim in this case is for $6030 09. 

" No. 32. The Schooner Weiree was seized by the authorities of 
Tampico in July, 1833, when it was abandoned by its master and 
crew. 

" No. 33. Brig Industry. — This vessel was detained at Tobasco, 
in March, 1834, on the pretence that her forescuttle was not sealed 
at the time of her arrival. The captain was imprisoned for thirteen 
days, and was obliged to pay $160 to regain his liberty. The col- 
lector of the port at length gave the captain leave to proceed to sea, 
when the judge of tlie court ordered the vessel to be brought back, 



APPENDIX. 205 

declaring that she should not be allowed to depart until fifty ounces 
of gold Avere paid. The captain tliereupon abandoned the vessel to the 
authorities, for wliose benefit it was sold. $11,060 68 are claimed 
as damages in this case. The Mexican government have promised 
full indemnity to the owner for all losses and damages. 

" No. 34. The Schooner Wm. A. Turner put into Sisal in distress, 
on the 5th of May, 1834, when she and her cargo were seized. 
They were directed to be restored by the district judge ; but in con- 
sequence of the pronunciamento of 5th July, all communication with 
the lower court was cut off. The vessel was still detained on the 
9th of August, 1834. 

" No. 35. The Brig Paragon was fired upon by the Mexican 
armed schooner Tampico, in the summer of 1834. When this case 
was laid before the Mexican government by the American minister, 
it Avas replied, that the Tampico was then in a state of mutiny, and 
that measures had been taken to punish the offenders. 

"No. 36. The captain of Schooner Two Brothers lost a bundle of 
papers, in 1834, while crossing the bar at Tampico in a boat, which 
was upset. Among the papers were the invoices of three boxes of 
merchandise, which were condemned for want of invoices. The 
cause of the want of invoices was explained to the collector and 
judge, and an offer was made to exhibit the original invoice of the 
cost, and letters to prove the property ; but the offer was not accepted. 
The cost of the merchandise condemned was $1000. 

" No. 37. The Schooner St. Croix arrived at Aransas Bay, in Texas, 
on the 25th September, 1834. The master was imprisoned by order 
of the collector, and otherwise maltreated, for failing to pay his 
port charges and tonnage duties as promptly as the collector sup- 
posed he ought to have done. The vessel became unseaworthy in 
the mean time, and was abandoned. There does not appear to be 
any judicial proceedings in the case. 

" No. 38. This claim is for the illegal exaction of double ton- 
nage duties on the Brig Weston, at Mazatlan, whither she proceeded 
in ballast from Guagmas, her port of discharge. The amount 
exacted was $352 75. 
18 



206 APPENDIX. 

" No. 39. The Schooner Martha was seized at Brazoria, by the 
Mexican vessel of war Montezuma, in May, 1835, and condemned, 
it is presumed, on a charge that some of the articles of her cargo 
were not included in the manifest. This was made the subject of a 
strong representation from the president of the United States, which 
was followed by a promise from the Mexican government to institute 
an examination in the case. 

" No. 40. The Schooner Harriet Elizabeth was stranded near Mata- 
gorda, in 1835. While in this situation, she was fired upon by a 
Mexican schooner, and her captain, crew, and passengers, carried to 
Matamoras and imprisoned. Reparation was demanded by Mr. 
Ellis, in 1836, but has never been given by the Mexican government. 

" No. 41. The Brig Ophia arrived off Campeachy in 1835, and 
was condemned by the district court of that country, without 
allowing the captain any opportunity of defending himself, for no 
other reason tlian because he did not produce certain manifests, 
which a Mexican custom-house officer advised him to leave on 
board. Reparation has been demanded also in this case, but 
without effect. 

" No. 42. The Brig Jane and four other vessels were detained at 
Matamoreis, in 1836, contrary to express treaty stipulations, and 
when reparation was demanded, the excuse rendered for the outrage 
was, that certain hostile vessels were cruising in those waters, and 
that the orders by which the Jane, &c., were detained, were without 
authority from the supreme government. No reparation was, how- 
ever, granted. 

"No. 43. In 1836, the Brig Eclipse wrs seized at Tobasco, (on 
what ground does not appear,) her crew insulted and maltreated, and 
her captain imprisoned. Amount claimed for the seizure of this 
vessel, $9157. 

" No 44. Mr. Coleman, acting consul of the United States at 
Tobasco, was summoned before the authorities, in 1836, and pub- 
licly insulted and ill treated, because he refused to legalize certain 
documents, the result of which would be to defraud. 



APPENDIX. 207 

" No. 45. The ScJwoner Aurora was stranded on the coast of Mex- 
ico, in 1836.. A part of the cargo was landed by the crew, when 
it was immediately taken possession of by an armed body of Mex- 
icans. On the crew remonstrating against these proceedings, they 
were insulted, maltreated, and the mate seriously injured. There- 
upon the crew proceeded to Tobasco and delivered the goods over 
to our consul at tliat place, who, on taking possession thereof, found 
that over one half had been plundered. 

" No. 46. While the Schooner Bethlehem was proceeding toward 
Campeachy, she was boarded by a captain of the Mexican navy, 
and her officers and men sent on board the Mexican flag-ship, where 
they were detained — a part of them in chains. On the captain of 
the Bethlehem landing, he found that his vessel had been con- 
demned, and himself banished, without a hearing, five years, from 
the trade. 

No. 47. It was proposed to sell the Brig Fourth of My to the 
Mexican government ; but while the negotiation was going on, she 
was taken possession of by the Mexican authorities, and the Mex- 
ican flag hoisted. Mr. Ellis, tlien our minister in Mexico, de- 
manded the release of the vessel, to which demand no answer has 
been returned. 

" No. 48. Eight men, under command of Midshipman Renshaw, 
from the U. S. sloop of war Natchez, landed on the mole in Vera 
Cruz, in 1836. During the absence of the commanding officer, tlie 
men got intoxicated, and one of them quarrelled with a fisherman. 
The fight soon became general, and the Mexicans were restrained 
from firing on the Americans only by the interference of the cap- 
tain of the port. Midshipman R., on account of the intoxication 
of his men, was compelled to leave them on shore, in charge of a 
Mexican officer; and when he demanded them of the authorities, on 
the succeeding day, then- release was refused. Several of the sea- 
men were severely wounded, yet no investigation into the conduct 
of the Mexican guard appears to have been instituted. 

"No. 49. In 1836, William Hallett and Zalmjon Hall, citizens of 
the United States, were arrested in the streets of Matamoras by an 
armed force, who struck one of them on the face, and took both to 



208 APPENDIX. 

tlie principal barrack. Here they were confined, while a guard was 
placed at the door of the house of the American consul, to prevent 
his interference in the matter. The house was searched for the 
consul himself, and much of his property was stolen. 

" No. 50. In 1836, the Schooner Peter D. Vroom was wrecked on 
the coast above Vera Cruz. Boves, the person to whom the cargo 
was consigned, renounced his agency in the matter, and the Mex- 
ican courts appointed Manuel de Vega to dispose of the cargo in 
his place. The claim is that the Mexican authorities had no right 
to interfere, since the captain of the schooner to whom the agency 
reverted on the abandonment of Boves, had appointed the U. S. 
consul agent for the disposal of the goods. 

" No. 51. The American citizens at Tampico having requested 
that a man-of-war might be sent for their protection, Lieutenant 
Osborne, with a boat's crew from the revenue cutter Jefferson, pro- 
ceeded there, wlien he was arrested by the authorities, carried off 
and examined. On his return, he learned that his crew had also 
been arrested and held for a long time in confinement. Gomez, who 
committed these outrages, was removed therefor by the supreme 
government, but was subsequently appointed commandant at Vera 
Cruz. 

" No. 52. The Ship Robert Wilson was seized and condemned at 
Vera Cruz, in 1833, on the alleged ground that she had imported 
false coin. In tlie suit which was instituted in the United States 
for the recovery of the insurance, the defence was, that the charge 
was true. It failed, however, because the Mexican government 
refused to furnish the proof, (if indeed it had any,) by which to sub- 
stantiate the allegation. The amount paid by the insurance com- 
pany, and for which the Mexican government is responsible, because 
it refused to furnish the proof, is $12,313 26. 

"No. 53. The Schooner WiUiam A. Turner, of which James 
O'Flaherty was master, was seized off Sisal, in 1834, by an armed 
Mexican force. The vessel was released after Captain O'Flaherty 
had given bonds for her value. In 1836, his vessel was again 
seized — himself confined, liberated, and after entering into bonds 
for $1200, his vessel released. Soon after, the vessel was again 



APPENDIX. 209 

seized, and the captain confined in the cabin, from whence he was 
sent as a prisoner to Tobasco. From this place, where he had been 
confined in the public prison, he was conveyed, still as a prisoner, 
to Campeachy, and cast a second time into confinement. 

" Captain O'Flaherty is entirely ig-norant of the cause of these 
repeated indignities, and at no time has any charge been preferred 
against him. 

"He claims, for the loss of property, $18,000. 

"No. 54. A. de O. Santangelo, a naturalized citizen of the 
United States, was the editor of a newspaper in Mexico. He also 
kept a school for the instruction of young ladies. Some editorial 
article gave offence to the Mexican government, whereupon he was 
ordered to quit the country, which order he affirms is contrary to 
the laws of Mexico, as to the treaty existing between the United 
States and Mexico. He claims $100 as an indemnification for his 
sudden banishment. 

"No. 55. Mr. Gorastiza, recently envoy extraordinary and 
minister plenipotentiary of the Mexican Republic to the United 
States, caused to be printed and distributed among 'the foreign min- 
isters accredited to this government, a pamphlet defamatory of the 
government and people of the United States. 

"No. 56. For all exactions which may have been made from 
citizens of the United States under laws of the Mexican Republic 
authorizing forced loans, ample indemnification will be demanded. 

" No. 57. Louisiana, Champion, Julius CcEsar. — These vessels 
were captured by the Mexican squadron in the Gulf of Mexico, in 
the spring of 1837, for an alleged violation of a pretended block- 
ade of the ports of Texas. 

" A List of Claims 07i Mexico which arose prior to December, 1837, but 
xchich xcere not then brought to the Notice of the Department of State. 

" No. 58. W. F. %' E. D. Hyde &; Co. claim full indemnification for 
the alleged capture and condemnation of a quantity of dry goods 
shipped at New Orleans for Brazonia, in Texas, in the spring of 
1835, amounting in value to about $23,000. 

18* 



210 APPENDIX. 

" No. 59. Thomas Tohy ^- Brother^ of N'ew Orleans, claim a resti- 
tution of $30,000, for goods captured and condemned under the 
same circumstances as in No. 1. 

" No. 60. William Trean, ofJV. Y., the AmericMn Insurance Co., of 
A^. F., and the. widow and executrix of Siinon CucvZla, of JVew Or- 
leans, claim indemnification for the capture and condemnation, on 
a pretence altogether frivolous, of the schooner Isaac McKim, in 
September, 1825. 

" No. 61. /. TF. Lacharie ^ Co., of JVew Orleans. — The claims of 
this firm are for three vessels and their cargoes illegally captured 
and condemned, and for one wantonly destroyed, in 1822, 1824, and 
1825, respectively. 

" No. 62. Mercantile Insurance Co., ofJV. Y. — This claim origin- 
ated in a contract made in 1826, by General Cortez, as agent of 
the Mexican government, with the late Henry Eckford, for the 
building of a vessel of war. The claim is for about $20,000, and 
has never been disputed by the Mexican agents. 

" No. 63. Henry Dolliver claims indemnification for the loss of 
all his property, consequent upon the seizure of his vessel and 
cargo, under the most aggravated circumstances. This illegal act 
was committed by Mexican authorities in 1829. 

" No. 64. William H. Brown and others. Owners of the Steamboat 
Planter. — This claim is for the impressment and forcible employ- 
ment of the above boat, at Tobasco, (date not given,) and for illegal 
duties exacted from them. 

" No. 65. Franklin Combs. — This claim is for articles of which 
he was robbed when taken prisoner in the Texan Santa Fe expe- 
dition. 

" No. 66. Peter Hotz claims of tlie Mexican government, as one 
of the shippers of the cargo of the schooner Arete Ellis, of which 
the said Hotz was owner and master, a proportion of the loss sus- 
tained by him from his vessel springing a leak, thereby compelling 
him to throw overboard several articles, in November, 1825. 



*^ 



APPENDIX. 



211 



" No. Q7. Mary Hughes, Widow of George Hughes, .Master of 
the Brig Jokn, of JV. Y. — The brig John, lying at anchor in the 
River Tobasco in 1832, was boarded and captured by an armed force, 
on a pretext altogether unfounded. Captain Hughes was knocked 
down, cruelly beaten with the butts of the muskets of tlie boarding 
party, carried off and imprisoned, and the cargo and stores of the 
vessel plundered. Captain Hughes subsequently died from the 
wounds received on this occasion. 

" Mary Hughes claims reparation therefor. 

" No. 68. James Cochrane, engineer of the steamer Hidalgo, was 
impressed into the Mexican service, together with the boat, in 1832, 
cruelly and ignominiously treated, and compelled to do duty as 
engineer for two months. He claims reparation for the breaking up 
of his business, and for false imprisonment. 

" No. 69. John Belden has two clauns against the Mexican 
government, one for $4500, on account of damages sustained by him, 
and the other for a forced loan at San Luis Potosi. 

Claims against Mexico for Injuries committed since December 2, 1837. 

" No. 70. Claim of Samuel Baldwin. — Mr. B., a citizen of the 
U. S., settled in Mexico some years since, and had acquired con- 
siderable property. On the most frivolous pretext he was seized 
and thrown into the public prison with the vilest criminals. While 
there, additional charges were fabricated against him — he was 
loaded with irons, poison was given him in his coffee, and he endured 
the most unparalleled sufferings from the brutal treatment of one 
Gomez, his jailer. From Acayuacan, where these barbarities were 
committed, Mr. B. was sent to Vera Cruz, and cast into a wet and 
filthy jail in the Castle of San Juan de Ulloa. On his journey, 
which was performed on a jackass, he was compelled to support the 
heavy burden of his chains, from which resulted an incurable lame- 
ness. For these unparalleled outrages no redress has been received 
from the Mexican government. 

" No. 71. Claims of Henry B. Horton, Walter W. Adam, and Jas. 
Kelley. — The claimants, seamen on board the American barque 
Roger Williams, having been paid off and discharged at Monterey, 
California, in 1840, were waiting for an opportunity to return home. 



212 APPENDIX. 

when they, together with other Americans, were seized and con- 
ducted to prison. They obtained their release, but were a second 
time arrested, robbed, and cast into jail, no cause for their commit- 
ment ever having been assigned. 

" No. 72. Claim of William Lord Etheridge Thompson. — Thomp 
son, an American seaman, was wrecked near San Bias, in 1838. 
In 1840, he was twice aiTested and thrown into prison — no cause 
whatever being assigned for his detention in either case. After 
suffering the most cruel treatment, he was released ; but found, on 
his return to the farai where he had labored since his shipwreck in 
1838, that all }iis property had been taken from him. No redress has 
ever been granted by the Mexican government. 

"No. 73. Claim of Stephen Smith. — Mr. Smith arrived at San 
Bias in May, 1845, from N. Y., on his way to Bondega in Upper 
California, where he had several lucrative establishments ; among 
which were a store containing $52,000 worth of goods, a flour mill 
calculated to grind thirty barrels of flour per day, and a distillery 
yielding two hundred gallons per day. 

"At San Bias, he was arrested and imprisoned on a frivolous pre- 
tence, in consequence of which, the operations of his establishments 
were suspended. 

" No. 74. Claims of Isaac Graham, William Church, Joseph L. 
Majors, Charles Brown, and otlvers. — These Americans, with six 
others, were seized in California, where they were engaged in 
business, in April, 1840, by the Mexican authorities, witliout any 
just cause or provocation, and thrown into prison. From their 
memorial to the department of state, it appears that they received 
the most barbarous treatment. After being conveyed from one 
place to another in the lower hold of vessels and in chains, — six 
being confined to one bar of iron, — they were finally set at liberty 
in the city of Tepee, without any reason being assigned by the 
Mexican government for its outrageous proceeding against them. It 
also appears that at the time of his arrest, the house of Mr. Graham 
was surrounded, fired into, and $30,000 in specie plundered tlierefrom. 

" No. 75. Claims of A. C. Bredall, of jYew Orleans.— Isi. The 
Schooner Lodi, with a valuable cargo of lawful goods, both belonging 



APPENDIX. 213 

to Mr. Bredall, sailed from New Orleans in May, 1838, bound for 
Matamoras in Mexico. On her arrival there, without any allegation 
of offence committed or contemplated, she was seized, her cargo 
landed, exposed, and pillaged. After a long detention, tlie cargo 
and vessel were restored ; but the latter was so much injured by 
worms, and her sails, rigging, and stores so much damaged, that she 
was obliged to be run on shore on her passage back to New Orleans, 
in order to save the lives of the passengers and crew, A total loss 
of the vessel and cargo was the consequence. 

" 2d. In 1843, Mr. Bredall arrived at Vera Cruz, with passports 
granted him by the Mexican consul at New Orleans. He presented 
them to the proper authorities, but was arrested and imprisoned on 
the charge of a design upon the life of General Santa Anna. During 
his detention, he suffered the most wanton, cruel, and humiliating 
indignities and privations ; and upon his release, he reached New 
Orleans in a helpless and shattered condition — his constitution 
broken, his hearing destroyed, and sinking under a hopeless con- 
sumption. It is proper to remark that the British minister demanded and 
obtained liberal damages on behalf of three British subjects who ivere 
imprisoned with Mr. Bredall. 

" No. 76. Claim of J. Barber and William Brevan. — The schooner 
Vigilant, owned by Barber & Brevan, the former also master, was 
captured by a Mexican man-of-war, about twenty eight-miles north- 
ward of Campeachy, in 1843, her papers taken from her, the 
captain and crew held in confinement, and the wife of Captain B. 
subjected to such shameful treatment that he deemed it unsafe for 
her to remain on board. Although the captain and crew were 
subsequently released, yet the schooner and cargo were kept by the 
captors. 

" The pretext alleged for this outrage was one altogether 
unfounded. 

"No. 77. Claim of C. Sr H. Childs, of Conn.— The schooner 
Cornelian, of which the Childs were owners, was seized at Mata- 
moras in March, 1843, after her cargo had been landed by regular 
permit from the proper officers, and condemned, and the captain 
fined $100. The reason assigned for this illegal seizure was, 
that two bales of cotton were found on the beach at Matamoras, 



L. 



214 APPENDIX. 

which the custom-house officers supposed came from the Cornelian. 
The cargo of the C. was composed of lumber ; no cotton was on board. 

"No. 78. Claim of A. J. Atocha. — Mr. Atocha, a naturalized 
citizen of the United States, resided for several years in Mexico, 
where he had established extensive commercial relations, and 
acquired considerable property. His claim is for large sums loaned 
the Mexican government, and reparation for being expelled from 
that country without just cause, during the revolution which resulted 
in the establishment of the government of Paredes, by which expul- 
sion his business was entirely destroyed. 

« No. 79. Claim of Mrs. Anne Kelley. — William H. Lee, son of 
the claimant, and an American citizen, carried on business in Mata- 
moras. Without any allegation of offence, he was suddenly expelled 
from the country, in 1843, which, in addition to the breaking up of 
his establishment, caused a forced sale of his property, which 
resulted in a very heavy loss. Mr. Lee has since died, and Mrs. 
Kelley claims reparation as his heir. 

" No. 80. Claim of Br. Charles W. Davis. — This claim is for 
$10,600, being the amount of a judgment rendered against George 
D. Penny, an English merchant trading in Mexico, for tlie violation 
of certain contracts made with Davis. Although the justice of 
Davis's claim had twice been acknowledged by inferior courts. Penny 
appealed to a higher tribunal, Avhich refused to act because the sal- 
aries of the judges had not been paid by the Mexican government. 
Davis claims, tlierefore, that Mexico is responsible for the above 
sum. 

" No. 81. Claim of Captain Jonas P. Levy. — 1st. In 1843, the 
store of the claimant, with all its contents, was forcibly taken posses- 
sion of with the connivance of the public authorities, and never 
returned. Amount of property lost, $6846 09. Reparation has 
been refused from the commission of the outrage to the present 
time. 

" 2d. This claim is for illegal duties extorted from Captain Levy 
by the collector of the port of Laguna, in 1843, under false pre- 
tences, amounting to $513 89. 

" 3d. The third claim is for goods belonging to the claimant and 



APPENDIX. 215 

his brother, thrown overboard by the captain of the steamboat Petri- 
ta, amounting to $7483 25, for which relief has been denied by tlie 
Mexican government. 

" 4th. Captain Levy also claims reparation for being imprisoned 
after the commencement of hostilities between the United States 
and Mexico, in direct violation of tJie treaty providing for the occur- 
rence of such an event, and for being compelled to leave Mexico 
without time to arrange his business, also in violation of treaty stip- 
ulations. 

" No. 82. Claim of L. S. Hargous 4- Co. — The claims of this 
firm against Mexico are for loans, advances, supplies furnished, 
and amounts due on contracts, &:.c., amounting, with interest due 
thereon, to $1,095,498. They also claim damages for being 
expelled from Vera Cruz, by which their mercantile transactions 
were seriously injured. 

" No. 83. Claims of John Parrott, late U. S. Consul at Mazatlan. — 
The claimant was forced, in 1845, by the Mexican authorities, to 
give bonds for the repayment of the duties on the cargo of a vessel 
belonging to his house, although he had in his possession (and 
showed them to the proper officers) passports certifying that the 
duties had already been paid. These bonds are still in tlie posses- 
sion of the Mexican government, to be enforced against the sureties 
of the clauuant. 

" No. 84. M Claim of John Parrott ^ Co. — The house of Par- 
rott & Co. having refiised to comply with a decree which had been 
annulled since 1837, a military force was despatched on the 18th 
April, 1845, by Canedo, the collector of the port of Mazatlan, which 
entered and took possession of their house, and placed property to 
the amount of $44,000, and the archives of the consulate of the 
United States, under embargo. In this state they still remain. 

" In the mean time, an English vessel, with a cargo valued in 
England at £35,000, consigned to the house of Parrott & Co., 
arrived off the port of Mazatlan ; but deeming it unsafe, at that par- 
ticular time, to land the goods, she was ordered to sea. On her pas- 
sage to Monterey, she was cast away and lost, by which P. &- Co 
lost the commission they would have obtained on selling the cargo. 



216 



APPENDIX. 



" No. 85. Claim of F. M. Dimond, late Consul of the United States 
at Vera Cruz. — Mr. Dimond claims damages for being expelled 
from Vera Cruz, in contravention of the treaty existing between the 
United States and Mexico, by which his extensive business was 
entirely broken up. 

" No. 86. Claim of Elisha H. Sauhiier. — Claim similar to No. 36. 

" No. 87. Claim of Franklin and Jinn Chase. — This claim is for 
damages sustained in consequence of their summary expulsion from 
Tampico, in violation of the treaty. 

" List of Claims on Mexico which have arisen since 30th December, 1837, 
7iot included in the foregoing. 

«'No. 88. J. Roheiis S,' Co., of Mw Orleans. — This claim is for 
$9000 advanced to Mr. Martinez, the Mexican minister in this 
country, on the faith of drafts on his government which were not 
paid. 

"No. 89. Pairott, Talbot, ^ Co. — Claim $2958 for a balance due 
on Mexican treasury warrants, payment of which was suspended 
by order of the government. 

" No. 90. Isaac D. Marks — Claims damages for a breach of con- 
tract made by him with General Arista, for the importation of 
$20,000 worth of prohibited goods at Matamoras. PoAvers for the 
purpose were vested in the general by his government, but were 
subsequently revoked. 

"No. 91. /. T. Laguerenne fy Co., of Mw Orleans — Cloim 
indemnification for the seizure and condemnation of the brig George 
Washington, at Vera Cruz, in 1841. 

"No. 92. /. M. Castanos — Consul of the United States at San 
Bias, advanced $1150, for the transportation back to California, of 
certain citizens of the United States, who had been forcibly taken 
from that country, by ISIexican authorities, in 1840. 

" No. 93. Bensley — Claims damages for being deprived by 

the governor of San Luis Potosi, of his apprentice boy. 



APPENDIX. 217 

" No. 94. G. W. Stavorens — Claims reparation for the confisca- 
tion of two thousand one hundred and twenty-five pounds of chew- 
ing tobacco, at Vera Cruz, in 1840. 

"No. 95. C F.Driscoll — Cl-dkns $887 for alleged illegal dis- 
' criminating tonnage and pilotage duties, and for a fine exacted on 
tlie brig A. E., at Tampico in 1839. 

" In a letter written by Mr. Forsyth, secretary of state, to the 
Mexican minister of foreign affairs, under date of May 27, 1837, 
demanding redress for these outrages, he says, — 

" ' These wrongs are of a character which cannot be tolerated by 
any government indued with a just self-respect, with a proper regard 
for the opinions of other nations, or with an enlightened concern for 
the peniianent welfare of those portions of its people who may be 
interested in foreign, commerce. Treasure belonging to citizens of 
the United States has been seized by Mexican officers, in its transit 
from the capital to the coast. Vessels of the United States have 
been captured, detained, and condemned, upon the most frivolous 
pretexts. Duties have been exacted from others, notoriously against 
law, or without law. Others have been employed, and in some 
instances ruined, in the Mexican service, without compensation to 
the owners. Citizens of the United States have been imprisoned for 
long periods of time, without being informed of the offences with which 
they were charged. Others have been murdered and robbed 
BY Mexican officers, on the high seas, without any 
attempt to bring the guilty to justice.' 

" Yet, in consequence of the forbearance of our government, the 
Mexican authorities and people continued their outrages upon us, 
down even to the very last year, 1845, and extending through a 
period of nearly twenty years." 
19 



218 APPENDIX. 

G. 

TREATY BET\^rEEN TEXAS AND SANTA ANNA. 

** Articles of Agreement and solemn Compact, made and adoptedby David G. 
Burnet^ President of the Eepitblic of Texas, and the midersigned Mem- 
bers of the Cabinet thereof, on the one part, and Don Antonio Lopez 
de Santa Anna, President of the Republic of Mexico, a?id Don Viticenie 
Filisola, General of Divisi07is, Don Jose Urea, Don Joachin Ramires y 
Sesma, and Don Antonio Gaona, Generals of Brigades, of the Armies 
of Mexico. 

" Whereas, the President Santa Anna, with divers officers of his 
late army, is a prisoner of war in charge of the army of Texas, and 
is desirous of terminating the contest now existing between the 
government of Texas, and that of Mexico ; in Avhich desire, the 
generals above named do fully concur ; and 

" Whereas, the president of the Republic of Texas, and the cab- 
inet, are also willing to stay the further effusion of blood, and to sec 
the two neighboring Republics placed in relations of friendship on 
terms of reciprocal advantage ; 

" Therefore, it is agreed by the President Santa Anna, and the 
Generals Don Vincente Filisola, Don Jose Urea, Don Joachin Ra- 
mires y Sesma, and Don Antonio Gaona, 

" 1st. That the aiinies of Mexico shall, with all practicable expe- 
dition, evacuate the territory of Texas, and retire to Monterey, 
beyond the Rio Grande. 

" 2d. That the armies, in their retreat, shall abstain from all pil- 
lage and devastation, and shall not molest any of the citizens of 
Texas, and shall not carry with them any cattle, or other stock, 
more than may be absolutely necessary for their subsistence, for 
v/hich a just price shall be paid. That all private property that may 
have been captured by either detachment of the army, shall be de- 
posited at the first convenient point of their march, and left under a 
sufficient guard, until the proper authorities of Texas shall have 
possession thereof. 

" 3d. That the army of Texas are to march westwardly, and to 
occupy such posts as the commanding general may think proper, on 
the east side of the Rio Grande, or Rio Bravo del Norte. 

"4th. That the President Santa Anna, in his official character 
as chief of the Mexican nation, and the Generals Don Vincente 



APPENDIX. 219 

Filisola, Don Jose Urea, Don Joachin Ramires y Sesma, and Don 
Antonio Gaona, as chiefs of armies, do solemnly acknowledge, 
sanction, and ratify, the full, entire, and perfect independence of the 
Republic of Texas, with such boundaries as are hereafter set forth 
and agreed upon for the same. And they do solemnly and respect- 
fully pledge themselves, witli all their personal and official attri- 
butes, to procure without delay, the final and complete ratification 
and confinnation of this agreement, and all the parts tliereof, by the 
proper and legitimate government of Mexico, by the incorporation 
of the same into a solemn and perpetual treaty of amity and com- 
merce, to be negotiated with that government, at the city of Mex- 
ico, by ministers plenipotentiary, to be deputed by the government 
of Texas for this high purpose. 

"5th. That the following be, and the same are hereby estab- 
lished and made the lines of demarkation between the two Repub- 
lics of Mexico and Texas, to wit : The line shall commence at the 
estuary or moutli of the Rio Grande, on the Avestern bank thereof, 
and shall pursue the same bank up the said river, to the point where 
tlie river assumes the name of the Rio Bravo del Norte, from whicli 
point it shall proceed on the said western bank to the head waters, 
or source of said river, it being understood that tlie terms Rio 
Grande and Rio Bravo del Norte, apply to and designate one and 
tlie same stream. From the source of said river, the principal head 
branch being taken to ascertain that source, a due north line shall 
be run until it sliall intersect tlie boundary line established and 
described in the treaty negotiated by and betAveen the government 
of Spain and the government of the United States of tlie north ; 
which line was subsequently transferred to and adopted in the ti'eaty 
of limits made between tlie government of Mexico and that of the 
United States ; and, from this point of intersection, the line shall be 
the same as was made and established in and by the several treaties 
above mentioned, to continue to tlie mouth or outlet of the Sabine 
river, and from thence to the gulf of Mexico. 

" 6th. That all prisoners taken by the forces of Mexico be forth- 
with released, and be furnished with free passports to return to their 
homes ; their clothing and small arms to be restored to them. 

"7th. That all the fortresses of Texas be forthwith restored 
without dilapidation, and with all the artillery and munitions of war 
belonging to them respectively. 

" 8th. The president and cabinet of the Republic of Texas, 



220 APT'F.NDIX. 

exercising the high powers confided to them by the people of Texas, 
do, for and in consideration of tlie foregoing stipulation, solemnly 
engage to refrain from taking the life of the President Santa Anna, 
and of the several officers of his late army, v/hom the events of war 
have made prisoners in their hands, and to liberate tlie President 
Santa Anna, with his private secretary, and cause him to be con- 
veyed in one of the national vessels of Texas to Vera Cruz, in 
order that he may more promptly and effectually obtain the ratifi- 
cation of this compact, and the negotiations of the definitive treaty 
herein contemplated by the government of Mexico with tlie gov- 
ernment of Texas. 

" 9th. The release of the President Santa Anna, shall be made 
mimediately on receiving the signatures of the Generals Don Vin- 
cente Filisola, Don Jose Urea, Don Joachin Ramires y Sesma, and 
Don Antonio Gaona, to this agreement, and his conveyance to Vera 
Cruz as soon afterwards as may be convenient. 
• " 10th. The President Santa Anna, and the Generals Don Vin- 
cente Filisola, Don Jose Urea, Don Joacliin Ramires y Sesma, and 
Don Antonio Gaona, do, by this act of subscribing this instrument, 
severally and solemnly pledge themselves on their inviolable parole 
of honor, that in the event the Mexican government shall refuse or 
omit to execute, ratify, confirm, and perfect this agreement, they 
will not, on any occasion whatever, take up arms against the people 
of Texas, or any portion of them, but will consider tliemselves 
bound, by every sacred obligation, to abstain from all hostility to- 
wards Texas or its citizens. 

"11th. That the otlier Mexican officers, prisoners with tlie gov- 
ernment of Texas, shall remain in custody, as hostages, for the 
faithful performance of this agreement, and shall be treated wi'tli 
humanity, and the respect due their rank and condition, until the 
final disposition of the Mexican government be ascertained, and a 
treaty, to be predicated upon the above stipulations, shall be made 
or rejected by that govermnent. In the event of a refusal to enter 
into and ratify such a treaty, on the part of the JMexican govern- 
ment, the government of Texas reserves to itself the right to dis- 
pose of them as they may think proper and equitable, relative to 
the conduct of the Mexican forces towards the volunteers and sol- 
diers of Texas, who have heretofore fallen into their hands. 

" 12th. The high contracting parties mutually agree to refer the 
treaty intended to be executed and solemnized by the two govern- 



APPENDIX. 221 

ments of Texas and of Mexico, on the basis established in this 
compact, to the government of tlie United States of the north, and 
to solicit the guaranty of that government for the fulfilment, by 
the contracting parties respectively, of their several engagements ; 
the said parties pledging themselves, in case of any disagreement or 
defalcation, to submit all matters in controversy to the final decision 
and adjustment of that govermnent. For tPiis purpose the con- 
tracting parties shall, as soon as practicable after the ratification of 
said treaty, depute one or more commissioners to the court of 
Washington, invested with plenary powers to perfect the object of 
this stipulation. 

" 13th. Any act of hostility on the part of the retreating Mexi- 
can troops, or any depredation upon public or private property com- 
mitted by those troops, or any impediment presented to the occupa- 
tion of any part of the territory of Texas, by the forces thereof, on 
the part of the Mexican troops, shall be considered a violation of 
this asTeement." 



H. 

TEXAS ONCE A PART OF THE UNION. 

In his letter of 1844, Mr. Walker says: — 

" Texas, as Mr. Jeflferson declared, was as clearly embraced in 
the purchase by us of Louisiana, as New Orleans itself; and that it 
was a part of that region, is demonstrated by the discovery, by the 
great Lasalle, of the source and mouth of the Mississippi, and his 
occupancy for France west of the Colorado. Our right to Texas as 
a part of Louisiana, was asserted and demonstrated by Presidents 
Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and Jolm Quincy Adams. No one of 
our presidents has ever doubted our title ; and Mr. Clay has ever 
maintained it as clear and unquestionable. Louisiana Avas acquired 
by a treaty with France, in 1803, by Mr. Jefferson ; and in the let- 
ter of Mr. Madison, the secretary of state, dated March 31, 1804, 
lie says, expressing his own views and those of Mr. Jefferson, that 
Louisiana ' extended westwardly to the Rio Bravo, otherwise called 
Rio del Norte. Orders were accordingly obtained from the Spanish 
authorities for the delivery o^ all the posts on the west side of the 
Mississippi.' And in his letter of the 31st January, 1804, Mr. Mad- 
19* 



222 APPENDIX. 

ison declares that Mr. Laussat, the French commissioner who deliv- 
ered the possession of Louisiana to us, announced the 'Del Norte as 
its true boundary.' Here, then, in the delivery of the possession of 
Louisiana by Spain to France, and France to us, Texas is included. 
In the letter of Mr. Madison of the 8th July, 1804, he declares the 
opposition of Mr. Jefferson to the ' relinquishment of any territory 
whatever, eastward of the Rio Bravo.' In the letter of James Mon- 
roe, of the 8th November, 1803, he encloses documents, which he 
says, ' prove incontestahly,'' that the boundary of Louisiana is ' the Rio 
Bravo to the west,' and Mr. Pinckney unites with him in a similar 
declaration. In a subsequent letter — not to a foreign government, 
but to Mr. Madison — of the 20th April, 1805, they assert our title 
as unquestionable. In Mr. Monroe's letters, as secretary of state, 
dated January 19, 1816, and June 10, 1816, he says none could ques- 
tion our 'title to Texas;' and he expresses his concurrence in 
opinion with Jefferson and Madison, 'that our title to the Del 
Norte was as clear as to the island of New Orleans.' In his letter, 
as secretary of state, to Don Onis, of the 12th March, 1818, John 
Quincy Adams says, ' the claim of France always did extend west- 
ward to the Rio Bravo ; ' ' she always claimed the territory which 
you call Texas, as being within the limits, and forming a part, of 
Louisiana.' After demonstrating our title to Texas in this letter, 
Mr. Adams says, ' Well might Messrs. Pinckney and Monroe write 
to M. Cevallos, in 1805, that the claim of the United States to the 
boundary of the Rio Bravo, %vas as clear as their right to the island 
of New Orleans.' Again, in his letter of the 31st October, 1818, 
Mr. Adams says our title to Texas is ' established beyond the power 
of further controversy.' 

" Here, then, by the discovery and occupation of Texas, as a part 
of Louisiana, by Lasalle, for France, in 1685 ; by the delivery of 
possession to us, in 1803, by Spain and France ; by the action of our 
government from the date of the treaty of acquisition to the date of 
the treaty of surrender, (avowedly so, on its face ;) by the opinion 
of all our presidents and ministers connected in any Avay with the 
acquisition, our title to Texas was undoubted. It was surrendered 
to Spain by the treaty of 1819 ; but Mr. Clay maintained, in his 
speech of the 3d April, 1820, that territory could not be alienated 
merely by a treaty; and consequently, that, notv/ithstanding the 
treaty, Texas was still our oion. In the cession of a portion of Maine, 
it was asserted, in legislative resolutions by Massachusetts and 



APPENDIX. 223 

Maine, and conceded by this government, that no portion of Maine 
could be ceded by treaty without the consent of Maine. Did Texas 
assent to this treaty, or can we cede part of a Territory, but not of a 
State ? These are grave questions ; they raise the point whether 
Texas is not now a part of our territory, and whether her people 
may not noAv rightfully claim the protection of our government and 
laws. Recollect this was not a question of settlement under the 
powers of this government of a disputed boundary. The treaty 
declares, as respects Texas, that we ' cede to his Catholic majesty.'' 
Commenting on tliis, in his speech before referred to, Mr. Clay says 
it was not a question of the power in case of dispute ' of fixing a 
boundary previously existing.' ' It was, on the contrary, the case of an 
avowed cession of territory from the United States to Spain.' 
Although, then, the government may be competent to fix a disputed 
boundary, by ascertaining as near as practicable where it is ; altliough 
also, a State, with the consent of this government, as in the case of 
Maine, may cede a portion of her territory ; yet, it by no means fol- 
lows that this government, by treaty, could cede a Territory of the 
Union. Could we by treaty cede Florida to Spain, especially with- 
out consulting the people of Florida ? and if not, the treaty by which 
Texas was surrendered, was, as Mr. Clay contended, inoperative, 

" By the treaty of 1803, by which, we have seen, Texas was 
acquired by us from France, we pledged our faith to France, and to 
the people of Texas, never to surrender that territory. The third 
article of that treaty declares, ' the inhabitants of the ceded territo- 
ry shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States, and admit- 
ted as soon as possible, according to the principles of the federal 
constitution, to the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and 
immunities, of citizens of ilie United Slates ; and in tlie mean time 
they shall be protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, prop- 
erty, and the religion which they profess.' Such was our pledge to 
France and to the people of Texas by the treaty of purchase ; and if 
our subsequent treaty of cession to Spain was not unconstitutional 
and invalid, it was a gross infraction of a previous treaty, and of one 
of the fundamental conditions under which Texas was acquired. 

" Here, then, are many grave questions of constitutional power. 
Could the solemn gviaranty to France, and to the people of Texas, 
be rescinded by a treaty vrith Spain ? Can this government, by its 
own mere power, surrender any portion of its territory ? Can it cut 
off a territory without the consent of its people, and surrender them 



224 AFi'CxNDiA. 

and the territory to a foreign power ? Can it expatriate and expel 
from the Union its own citizens, who occupy that territory, and 
change an American citizen into a citizen of Spain or Mexico ? 
These are momentous questions, which it is not necessary now to 
determine, and in regard to which I advance at this time, no opinion. 
Certain, however, it is, that with tlie consent of the people of Texas, 
Congress can carry out the solemn pledges of the treaty of 1803, 
and admit one or more States from Texas into the Union. 

" EFFORTS OF ADAMS AND CLAY, AND OF JACKSON AND VAN 
BUREN, TO REANNEX TEXAS TO THE UNION, IN 1825, 1827, 

1829, 1833, AND 1835. 

" The question as to Texas, is, in any aspect, a question of the 
reestablishment of our ancient boundaries, and the repossession 
of a territory most reluctantly surrendered. The surrender of terri- 
tory, even if constitutional, is almost universally inexpedient and 
unwise, and, in any event, when circumstances may seem to demand 
such a surrender, the territory thus abandoned, should always be 
reacquired, whenever it may be done with justice and propriety. 
Independent of these views, we have the recorded opinion of John 
Quincy Adams as president, and Henry Clay as secretary of state, 
and also of Gen. Andrew Jackson as president, and Martin Van 
Buren as secretary of state, that Texas ought to be reannexed to 
the Union. On the 26th of March, 1825, Mr. Clay, in conformity 
with his own views, and the express directions of Mr. Adams, as pres- 
ident, directed a letter to Mr. Poinsett, our minister at Mexico, 
instructing him to endeavor to procure from Mexico a transfer to us 
of Texas to the Del Norte. In this letter, Mr. Clay says, ' the 
president wishes you to effect that object' Mr. Clay adds, ' the 
line of the Sabine approaches our great western mart nearer than 
could be wished. Perhaps the Mexican government may not be 
unwilling to establish that of the Rio Brasses de Dies, or the Rio 
Colorado, or the Snow mountains, or the Rio del Norte, in lieu of it.' 
Mr. Clay urges, also, tlie importance of having entirely within our 
limits, ' the Red river and Arkansas, and their respective tributary 
streams.' 

" On the 15th of March, 1827, Mr. Clay again renewed the effort 
to procure the cession of Texas. In his letter of instruction of 
that date, to our minister at Mexico, he says, ' the president has 



APPENDIX. 225 

tliought tlie present might be an auspicious period for urging a nego- \ 
tiation at Mejiico, to settle the boundary of the two Republics.' 
' If vre could obtain such a boundary as Ave desire, the government 
of the United States might be disposed to pay a reasonable pecuni- 
ary compensation. The boundary we prefer is that, which begin- 
ning at the mouth of the Rio del Norte in the sea, shall ascend that 
river to the mouth of tlie Rio Puerco, thence ascending this river to 
its source, and from its source by a line due north to strike the 
Arkansas, thence, following the southern bank of the Arkansas to 
its source, in latitude 42° north ; and tlience by that parallel of lati- 
tude to the South sea.' And he adds, the treaty may provide ' for 
the incorporation of the inhabitants into the Union.' 

" Mr. Van Buren, in his letter, as secretary of state, to our min- 
ister at Mexico, dated August 25, 1829, says, ' It is the wish of the 
president that you should, without delay, open a negotiation with 
the Mexican government, for the purchase of so much of the prov- 
ince of Texas, as is hereinafter described.' ' He is induced by a 
deep conviction of the real necessity of tlie proposed acquisition, not 
only as a guard for our western frontier, and the protection of JVew 
Orleans^ but also to secure forever to the inhabitants of the valley 
of the Mississippi, the undisputed and undisturbed possession of the 
navigation of that river.' ' The territory, of which a cession is 
desired by the United States, is all that part of the province of 
Texas which lies east of aline beginning at the Gulf of Mexico, in 
the centre of the desert, or grand prairie, which lies west of the Rio 
Nueces.' And Mr. Van Buren adds, the treaty may provide ' for 
the incorporation of the inhabitants into the Union.' And he then 
enters into a long and powerful argument of his own, in favor of the 
reacquisition of Texas. 

"On the 20th of March, 1833, Gen. Jackson, through Mr. Liv- 
ingston, as secretary of state, renew.-^ to our minister at Mexico, the 
former ' instructions on the subject of the proposed cession.' On 
the 2d of July, 1835, General Jackson, through Mr. Forsyth, as sec- 
retary of state, renews the instructions to obtain the cession of Texas, 
and expresses ' an anxious desire to secure the very desirable alter- 
ation in our boundary with Mexico.' On the 6th of August, 1835, 
General Jackson, through Mr. Forsyth, as secretary of state, directs 
our minister at Mexico to endeavor to procure for us, from that gov- 
ernment, the following boundary, ' beginning at the Gulf of Mex- 
ico, proceeding along the eastern bank of the river Rio Bravo del 



226 APrENDix. 

Norte, to tlie 37th parallel of latitude, and thence along that parallel 
to the Pacific' This noble and glorious proposition of General 
Jackson would have secured to us not only the whole of Texas, but 
also the largest and most valuable portion of upper California, to- 
gether with the bay and harbor of San Francisco, the best on tlie 
western coast of America, and equal to any in tlie world. If, then, 
it was deemed, as it is clearly proved, most desirable to obtain the 
reannexation of Texas, down to a period as late as August, 1835, 
is it less important at this period ? " 



I. 

TAVENTY-EIGHTH CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION, 

Begun and held at the City of Washington^ in the District of Colum- 
bia, on Monday, the second day of December, eighteen htmdred and 
forty-four. 

JOINT RESOLUTION FOR ANNEXING TEXAS TO THE UNITED STATES. 

" Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled, That Congress doth con- 
sent that the territory properly included within, and rightfiilly be- 
longing to, the republic of Texas, may be erected into a new State, 
to be called the State of Texas, with a republican form of govern- 
ment, to be adopted by the people of said republic, by deputies in 
convention assembled, with the consent of the existing government, 
in order that the same may be admitted as one of the States of this 
Union. 

" 2. And be it further resolved, That the foregoing consent of 
Congress is given upon the following conditions, and with the fol- 
lowing guaranties, to wit: First. Said State to be formed, subject 
to the adjustment by this government of all questions of boundary 
that may arise with other governments ; and the constitution there- 
of, with the proper evidence of its adoption by the people of said 
republic of Texas, shall be transmitted to the president of tlie 
United States, to be laid before Congress for its final action on or 
before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and 
forty-six. Second. Said State, when admitted into the Union, after 



APPENDIX. 227 

ceding to the United States all public edifices, fortifications, bar- 
racks, ports, and harbors, navy and navy-yards, docks, magazines, 
arms, armaments, and all other property and means pertaining to 
the public defence belonging to said republic of Texas, shall re- 
tain all the public funds, debts, taxes, and dues of every kind, 
which may belong to or be due and owing said republic ; and shall 
also retain all the vacant and unappropriated lands lying witliin its 
limits, to be applied to the payment of the debts and liabilities of 
said republic of Texas, and the residue of said lands, after' dis- 
charging said debts and liabilities, to be disposed of as said State 
may du-ect ; but in no event are said debts and liabilities to become 
a charge upon tlie government of the United States. Third. New 
States, of convenient size, not exceeding four in number, in addi- 
tion to said State of Texas, and having sufficient population, may 
hereafter, by the consent of said State, be formed out of the terri- 
tory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provis- 
ions of the federal constitution. And such States as may be formed 
out of that portion of said territory lying south of thirty-six degrees 
thirty minutes north latitude, commonly known as the Missouri 
compromise line, shall be admitted into the Union, with or without 
slavery, as the people of each State asking admission may desire. 
And in such State or States as shall be formed out of said territory, 
north of said Missouri compromise line, slavery or involuntary ser- 
vitude, (except for crime,) shall be prohibited. 

"3. And he it further resolved^ That if the president of the 
United States shall, in his judgment and discretion, deem it most 
advisable, instead of proceeding to submit the foregoing resolution 
to the republic of Texas, as an overture on the part of the United 
States for admission, to negotiate with that republic — then. Be it 
resolved., That a State, to be formed out of the present republic of 
Texas, with suitable extent and boundaries, and with two repre- 
sentatives in Congress, until the next apportionment of representa- 
tion, shall be admitted into the Union, by virtue of this act, on an 
equal footing with the existing States, as soon as the terms and 
conditions of such admission, and the cession of the remaining 
Texan territory to the United States, shall be agreed upon by the 
governments of Texas and the United States ; and that the sum of 
one hundred thousand dollars be, and the same is hereby, appropri- 
ated to defray the expenses of missions and negotiations, to agree 
upon the terms of said admission and cession, either by treaty to be 



228 - APPENDIX. 

submitted to the senate, or by articles to be submitted to the two 
bouses of Congress, as the president may direct. 

' «'J. W. JONES, 
" Speaker of the House of Representatives, 
"WILLIE P. MANGUM, 
*' President pro tempore of the Senate. 
" Approved, March 1, 1845. JOHN TYLER." 

JOINT RESOLIJTION, 

Giving the Consent of the existing Government to the Annexation of 
Texas to the United States. 

" Whereas, the government of the United States liath proposed 
the following terms, guaranties, and conditions on Avhich the people 
and territory of the republic of Texas may be erected into a new 
State, to be called the State of Texas, and admitted as one of the 
States of the American Union, to wit : 

[Here follow the two jfirst sections of the joint resolution of the 
Congress of the United States.] 

" And whereas, by said terms, the consent of the existing gov- 
ernment of Texas is required ; therefore, 

" Be it resolved hy the Senate and House of Repi'esentatives of the 
Republic of Texas in Congress assembled, That the government of 
Texas doth consent that the people and territory of the republic of 
Texas may be erected into a new State, to be called the State of 
Texas, with a republican form of govermnent, to be adopted by the 
people of said republic by deputies in convention assembled, in 
order that the same may be admitted as one of the States of the 
American Union ; and said consent is given on the terms, guaran- 
ties, and conditions set forth in the preamble to this joint resolution. 

" Sect. 2. Be it further resolved, That the proclamation of the 
president of the republic of Texas, bearing date May fifth, eighteen 
hundred and forty-five, and the election of deputies to sit in con- 
vention at Austin on the fourth day of July next, for the adoption 
of a constitution for the State of Texas, had in accordance there- 
witli, hereby receives the consent of the existing government of 
Texas. 

" Sect. 3. Be it further resolved, That the president of Texas 
is hereby requested immediately to furnish the government of the 
United States, through their accredited minister near tliis govern- 



APPENDIX. 221) 

ment, with a copy of this joint resolution ; also to furnish the con- 
vention to assemble at Austin on the 4th of July next a copy of the 
same ; and the same shall take effect from and after its passage. 

"JOHN M. LEWIS, 

" Speaker of the House of Representatives. 

«'K. L. ANDERSON, 

"President of the Senate. 
"Approved, June 23, 1845. 

"ANSON JONES." 

"Depaktment of State, June 23, 1845. 
" The undersigned, secretary of state of the republic of Texas, 
hereby certifies that the foregoing is a copy of the original joint 
resolutions on file in tlie archives of this office. 
^ T •'^^ testimony whereof, the official seal of the department 

'-^* 'J is hereunto affixed. 

"EBEN'H ALLEN." 

AN ORDINANCE. 

" Whereas, the Congress of the United States of America has 
passed resolutions providing for the annexation of Texas to tliat 
Union, which resolutions were approved by J;he president of the 
United States on the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred 
and forty-five ; and whereas the president of the United States has 
submitted to Texas the first and second sections of the said resolu- 
tion, as the basis upon which Texas may be admitted as one of the 
States of the said Union ; and whereas the existing government of 
the republic of Texas has assented to the proposals thus made, the 
terms and conditions of which are as follows : — 

[The tAvo first sections of the joint resolution of the Congress of 
the United States are here quoted.] 

" Now, in order to manifest the assent of the people of this 
republic, as required in the above recited portions of the said reso- 
lutions, we, the deputies of the people of Texas, in convention 
assembled, in their name , and by their authority, do ordain and 
declare, that we assent to and accept the proposals, conditions, and 
guaranties contained in the first and second sections of the resolu- 
tion of the Congress of the United States aforesaid. 

•' THOMAS J. RUSK, President. 

"Phil. M. Curry, H. G. Runnels, Robert M. Forbes, Sam. Lusk, 
Jno. Caldwell, Jose Antonio Navarra, Geo. M. Brown, Gustavus A. 
20 



230 APPENDIX. 

Everts, Lemuel Dale Evans, J. B. Miller, R. E. B. Baylor, J. S. 
Mayfield, R. Bache, James Love, Wm. L. Hunter, John D. Ander- 
son, Isaac Parker, P. O. Lumpkin, Francis Moore, Jr., Isaac W. 
Brashear, Alexander McGowan, Isaac Van Zandt, S. Holland, 
Edward Clark, Geo. W. Smyth, James Armstrong-, Francis W. 
White, James Davis, George T. Wood, G. W. Wright, H. R. 
Latimer, John M. LeAvis, James Scott, Archibald McNeill, A. C. 
Horton, Israel Standifer, Jos. L. Hogg, Chas. S. Taylor, David 
Gage, Henry S. Jewett, Cavitt Armstrong, James Bower, Albert H. 
Latimer, Wm. C. Young, J. Pinckney Henderson, Nicholas H. 
Darnell, Emery Rains, A. W. O. Hicks, James M. Burroughs, 
H. L. Kinney, William L. Cazenan, A. S. Cunningham, Abner S. 
Lipscomb, John Hemphill, Van. R. Irion. 
*< Adopted, JtiIv 4, 1845. 

"Attest': "JAMES H. RAYMOND, 

*' Secretary of the Convention." 

" City of Austin, Republic op Texas, 

" Juhj 5, 1845. 

"I certify the foregoing is a correct copy of the ordinance as 
adopted and signed by the members of the convention on yesterday, 
July 4, 1845. 

" JAMES H. RAYMOND, 

" Secretary of the Conventio7i." 

Mr. Donelso?i to Mr. Buchanan. 
[No. 34.] "Legation of the United States, ^ 

" Austin, Jtily 7, 1845. > 
"Sir: Since my note of yesterday, the enclosed resolution of the 
convention has been handed to me. It is but a repetition of the 
application heretofore made by the existing government of Texas, 
for the occupation of her frontier with our troops. 

" I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"A. J. DONELSON. 
"Hon. James Buchanan, 

" Secretary of State of the United States, ^c. %c." 

Mr. Rusk to Mr. Donelson. 

" Convention Room, i 
" Austin, Texas, July 7, 1845. 3 
" Sir : By order of tlie convention, I have the honor herewith to 



APrENDIX. 231 

transmit to your excellency the enclosed copy of a resolution 
adopted by' the honorable convention this day. 

" Very respectfully, your excellency's most obedient servant, 

"TH. J. RUSK, President. 
" His Excellency A. J. Doxelson-, 

" Chargi a Affaires of the United States, ^c. i^c. " 

RESOLUTION 

Relative to the Introduction of the U7iited States Forces into Texas. 

"Se it resolved by the Deputies of the People in Convention assembled, 
That the president of the United States of America is hereby 
authorized and requested to occupy and establish posts, without 
delay, upon the frontier and exposed positions of this republic ; and 
to introduce for such purpose, and defence of the territory and 
people of Texas, such forces as may be necessary and advisable for 
the same. 

" Adopted in convention, at the city of Austin, Republic of 
Texas, July 7, 1845. 

"THO. J. RUSK, Preside?it. 



Attest 



JAS. H. RAYMOND, 

" Secretary of the Co7ivention" 



J. 

CORRESPONDENCE, &c. 

" Executive DsrARTMENT, ^ 
Washington, June 18, 1845. ) 
" To the honorable the Senate : 

" The executive herewith respectfully transmits to your honor- 
able body, for its constitutional advice and action, the ' conditions 
preliminary to a treaty of peace between Mexico and Texas,' signed 
on the part of the former at the city of Mexico, on the 19tli of May 
ultimo, together with an additional declaration made by the govern- 
ment of Mexico of the same date, in connection with tliose con- 
ditions. 

" The correspondence connected with the above is also trans- 
mitted for the information of the senate. 



232 APPENDIX. 

" The executive requests the senate to return the original papers 
so soon as they shall have received its examination and action. 

"ANSON JONES." 

[Translation.] 

"Legation of France in Mexico, ) 
Mexico, May 20, 1845. > 

"Mr. President : lam happy to be able to announce to your 
excellency that the Mexican government, after having obtained the 
authorization of the two chambers of Congress, has acceded to the 
four preliminary articles which the secretary of state of Texas had 
remitted to the charges d'affaires of France and England near your 
government, and which these last had transmitted to me and to the 
minister of her Britannic majesty, to be presented to the executive 
power of Mexico. 

" The act of acceptation, clothed with the necessary forms, will 
be handed by Mr. Elliott to the secretary of state of the Texan 
government, and your excellency will thence find yourself in a 
situation to name commissioners to negotiate with Mexico the defin- 
itive treaty between Mexico and Texas. 

"The success Avhich has crowned our efforts has only been 
obtained by much management of susceptibilities. But I should 
say that the dispositions of the executive power have never appeared 
doubtful to me, and that they give me the hope of a solution proper 
to satisfy the two parties, and to assure their reciprocal well being. 

" If, in the course which must be given to this affair, I can con- 
tribute to the wise views and sound policy which animate your 
excellency, I shall lend myself to it with so much the more zeal, 
that it relates to tlie accomplishment of a work useful to humanity ; 
and if the result answers to our hopes, I shall consider the part 
which I have taken in it as one of the deeds for which I may most 
applaud myself in my diplomatic career. 

" Receive, Mr. President, the assurances of the high consideration 
with which I am your excellency's very humble and most obedient 
servant, 

"BARON ALLEYE DE CYPREY. 

" His Excellency Mr. Anson Jones, 

" President of the Republic of Texas, ^c. 

" The foregoing is a correct translation of the original. 

" STEPHEN Z. HOYLE, Translator." 



APPENDIX. 233 

Conditions preliminary to a Treaty of Peace between Mexico and Texas. 

" 1. Mexico consents to acknowledge the independence of 
Texas. 

" 2. Texas engages that she will stipulate in the treaty not to 
annex herself or become subject to any country whatever. 

" 3. Limits and other conditions to be matter of arrangement in 
the final treaty. 

" 4. Texas will be willing to remit disputed points respecting ter- 
ritory and other matters to tlie arbitration of umpires. 

" Done at Washington, (on the Brazos,) the 29th March, 1845. 

"ASHBEL SMITH, 

" Secretary of State." [l. s.] 

[Translation.] 

" Mexico, May 20, 1845. 
" The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipo- 
tentiary of his majesty the king of the French, and minister 
plenipotentiary of her Britannic majesty, certify that the above copy 
conforms with the original which has been presented to them by Mr. 
Elliott, her Britannic majesty's charge d'affaires to Texas. 

''BARON ALLEYE DE CYPREY. [l. s. 
" CHARLES BANKHEAD. [l. s.] 

" The above is a correct translation of the original. 

♦«S. Z. HOYLE, Translator." 

[Translation.] 

"The minister of foreign affairs and government of the Mexican 
Republic has received the preliminary propositions of Texas for an 
arrangement or definitive treaty between Mexico and Texas, which 
are of the following tenor : — 

" ^Conditions preliminary to a Treaty of Peace between Mexico and Texas. 

" ' 1st. Mexico consents to acknowledge the independence of 
Texas. 

" ' 2d. Texas engages that she will stipulate in the treaty not to 
annex herself or become subject to any country whatever. 

" ' 3d. Limits and other conditions to be matter of arrangement 
in the final treaty. 

20* 



234 APPENDIX. 

" ' 4th. Texas will be willing to remit disputed points respecting 
territory, and other matters, to the arbitration of umpires. 

" ' Done at Washington, (on the Brazos,) the 29th of March, 1845. 
"ASHBEL SMITH, [l. s.] 

" Secretary of State' 

" The government of the republic has asked, in consequence, of 
the national Congress, the authority which it has granted, and which 
is of the following tenor : — 

" ' The government is authorized to hear the propositions which 
Texas has made, and to proceed to the arrangement or celebration 
of the treaty, that may be fit and honorable to the republic, giving 
an account to Congress for its examination and approval.' 

" In consequence of the preceding authority of the Congress of 
the Mexican republic, the undersigned, minister of foreign affairs 
and government, declares ; That the supreme government receives 
the four articles above mentioned as the preliminaries of a formal 
and definitive treaty ; and further, tliat it is disposed to commence the 
negotiation as Texas may desire, and to receive the commissioners 
which she may name for this purpose. 

" LUIS G. CUEVAS. [l. s.] 

" Mexico, May 19, 1845. 

" The above is a correct translation of the original. 

« STEPHEN Z. HOYLE, Tramlator." 

[Translation.] 
ADDITIONAL DECLARATION. 

" It is understood that besides the four preliminary articles pro- 
posed by Texas, there are other essential and important points 
which ought also to be included in the negotiation, and that if this 
negotiation is not realized on account of circumstances, or because 
Texas, influenced by the law passed in the United States on 
annexation, should consent thereto, either directly or indirectly, 
then the answer which under this date is given to Texas, by the 
undersigned, minister for foreign affairs, shall be considered as null 
and void. 

" LUIS G. CUEVAS. [l. s.] 

" Mexico, May 19, 1845. 

" The above is a correct translation of the original. * 

" STEPHEN Z. HOYLE, TramMor." 



APPENDIX. 235 

'^ ExECUxrv'E Department, ^ 

Washington, Texas, June 6, 1845. ) 

" Sir : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your 
excellency's letter of the 20th ultimo, which, together with the 
tlie official documents referred to in it, and by which Mexico has 
given her assent to the preliminaries of peace with Texas, upon the 
basis of an acknowledgment of the independence of the latter, 
were handed me by Mr. Elliott, charg6 d'affaires of her Britannic 
majesty near this government, on the 2d instant. 

" For your kindness and courtesy in transmitting these interesting 
and important papers, as well as for your valuable services in 
producing the result which they announce to me, and the offer of a 
continuance of the same good offices whenever they can be useful, 
I beg you to accept my best thanks. Should the result be the 
establishment of a good understanding and a lasting peace between 
the governments of Texas and Mexico, with the concurrence of 
their people, the cause of humanity will assuredly be greatly 
indebted to your efforts in its behalf. 

" 1 have the honor to transmit to you herewith, for such disposi- 
tion as you may think proper to make of them, certified copies of 
the proclamation issued by me on the 4th instant, announcing to the 
people the agreement of Mexico to the preliminaries of peace, and 
the consequent cessation of hostilities between the two countries. 

" The Congress of Texas will assemble on the 16th of the present 
month, and a convention on the 4th of July proximo. These bodies 
have been convoked to consider the propositions made by the govern- 
ment of the United States on the subject of annexation. The sub- 
ject of our relations with Mexico will also be presented to them, 
their decisions will necessarily govern my future action in 
reference to the same. 

" Accept, sir, the assurances of high consideration and respect 
with which I remain your excellency's most obedient humble servant, 

"ANSON JONES. 

" His Excellency the Baron Alleye de Cyprey, &c. &c." 



236 APPENDIX. 



K. 



MEXICAN CIRCULARS. 

" Office of War and Marine, ) 
Sectio?i of Operations. ) 

" The United States have_ consummated the perfidy against Mex- 
ico by sanctioning the decree which declares the annexation of the 
department of Texas to that republic. The injustice of that 
usurpation is apparent, and Mexico cannot tolerate such a grave 
injury witliout making an effort to prove to the United States the 
possibility of her ability to cause her rights to be respected. With 
this object, the supreme governrflent has resolved upon a declara- 
tion of war against that power, seeing that our forbearance, instead 
of being received as a proof of our friendly disposition, has been 
interpreted into an acknowledged impossibility on our part to carry 
on a successful war. 

" Such an error, on the part of the United States, will be advan- 
tageous to Mexico, because, suddenly abandoning its pacific atti- 
tude, it will to-morrow communicate to Congress the declaration 
of war, and excite the patriotism of its citizens to sustain the 
dignity of the nation, and the integrity of its territory, now treach- 
erously attacked, in utter disregard of all guaranties recognized in 
this enlightened age. 

"You will readily appreciate the importance of this subject, and 
the necessity of preparing the troops under your command to march 
towards any point which may require protection against these most 
unjust aggressions. I am directed by the provisional president to 
enjoin you, as general-in-chief of your division, and as a citizen of 
this republic, to hold yourself in readiness to repel those who seek 
the ruin of Mexico. The government is occupied in covering the 
deficient points on the frontiers, and in collecting the necessary 
means, so that nothing may be wanting to tliose whose glory it will 
be to defend the sacred rights of their country. 

" I have the honor to communicate for your intelligence, and to 
direct your conduct. 

"God and liberty. ■ GARCIE CONDE.' 

"Mexico, July 12, 1845." 



APPENDIX. 237 

This Circular to the Authorities subordinate to this Office. 

"Most excellent Senor : As my notes of the 30th of March 
and 7th of April of this year, concerning tlie deserters and recruits 
for the army, have not produced effects which his excellency the 
president ad interim desired, as the governors have not been able to 
gather a number of men by any means adequate to the wants of 
the army, his excellency has ordered your excellency to provide 
the material to enable the different departments to furnish their 
quota, and complete the contingent of troops required by the de- 
crees of the 29th of December, 1843, and 2d July, 1844 ; for 
although the supreme government has not exacted with punctual- 
ity, the complement from the departments, she now sees herself 
under the necessity of doing so, for the war which she wages 
against the United States, the perfidy and treachery of which power 
put her in possession of a part of this Republic. 

" His excellency, the president ad interim, requires that your ex- 
cellency inform the governors of the necessity which exists of 
detailing the number of men, so highly necessary to fill the ranks 
of the army, and to excite the zeal and patriotism of the authorities, 
that their preparations shall be so effectual as to fulfil tlie desires 
of the government, and prevent the dignity of the nation from 
being in any measure compromised. 

" I have the honor to communicate to your excellency the follow- 
ing, to be used as occasion may require. 

"God and liberty. GARCIA CONDE. 

''July 16, 1845." 

Most excellent Senor, Minister of Foreign Relations atid of Police. 
Tra7ismit to the Authorities depending %q3on your Department. 

"Most excellent Senor: It being necessary that the troops 
of the line should cover the frontiers of the republic, and march 
towards Texas, to conquer that department, now usurped by the 
United States, his excellency the president ad interim has com- 
manded me to transmit you this note, to excite the zeal and patriot- 
ism of the governors, that they place under arms, in their respective 
districts, all the force which can be collected in defence of the law, 
to be ready to serve as a safeguard of the respective departments, 
according to the decree of the 4th of June of this year, and the 
regulation of the 7th instant. 



238 



APPENDIX. 



" Your excellency Avill communicate to the governors this supreme 
resolution, and will inform them of the obligations under which the 
citizens are to contribute to the defence of their country, and to 
sustain rights violated by a nation which refuses to acknowledge 
them, and obliges Mexico to maintain them by force — which it 
most undoubtedly will, or fall in the struggle. She will not con- 
sent to give up one half of her territory, from the base fear of losing 
the other. Hoping your excellency will furnish me with informa- 
tion as to the number of men which can be devoted to tliis impor- 
tant object, your excellency will please to accept my most high 
consideration. 

" God and liberty. GARCIA CONDE. 

"Mexico, July 16, 1845. 
" To the most excellent Senor, minister of foreign relations and 

police." 



L. 



BIR. SLIDELl's letter OF CREDENCE. 
" JAMES K. POLK, 

" PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMEillCA. 

"Great and good Friend: I have made choice of John Sli- 
dell, one of our distinguished citizens, to reside near the govern- 
ment of the Mexican republic, in the quality of envoy extraordinary 
and minister plenipotentiary of tlie United States of America. He 
is well informed of the relative interests of tlie two countries, and 
of our sincere desire to restore, cultivate, and strengthen friendship 
and good correspondence between us ; and from a knowledge of his 
fidelity and good conduct, I have entire confidence tliat he will ren- 
der him-self acceptable to the Mexican government, by his constant 
endeavors to preserve and advance tlie interest and happiness of 
both nations. I therefore request your excellency to receive him 
favorably, and to give full credence to whatever he shall say on the 
part of the United States. And I pray God to have you in his safe 
and holy keeping. 

" Written at the city of Washington, the tenth day of November, 



APPENDIX. 239 

in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-five, 
and of the independence of the United States the seventieth. 
" Your good friend, 

«' JAMES K. POLK. 
"By the President: 
" James Buchanan, 

** Secretary of State. 

" To his Excellency Don Jose Joaquim Herrera, 

''Presklent of the Mexican Republic." 



M. 

LETTER. 

Mr. Pena y Pena to Mr. Slidell. 

!NT, ? 



Palace of the National Government, 
Mexico, December 16, 1845. 



" The undersigned, minister of foreign relations, in answer to the 
letter which his excellency Mr. John Shdell, was pleased to address 
to him yesterday, has the honor to inform him that the delay in his 
reception, to which he alludes, and the consequent delay in answer- 
ing his preceding note, making known his arrival in this capital, 
and accompanying a copy of his credentials, have arisen solely from 
certain difficulties, occasioned by the nature of those credentials, as 
compared with the proposition made by the United States, through 
their consul, to treat peacefully upon the aifairs of Texas, with the 
person v/ho should be appointed to that effect; for which reason it 
has been found necessary to submit the said credentials to the coun- 
cil of government, for its opinion with regard to them. 

" The undersigned will communicate the result to his excellency 
without loss of time ; assuring him meanwhile that the government 
of Mexico is ready to proceed agreeably to what it proposed in its 
answer on the subject. 

" The undersigned avails himself of this opportunity to offer to his 
excellency Mr. Slidell, the assurances of his very distinguished con- 
sideration. 

"MANUEL DE LA PENA Y PENA. 

" His Excellency John Slidell, &c. &c." 



240 APPENDIX. 

N. 

LETTER. 

Mr. Slidell to Mr. Pena y Pena. 

"Mexico, December 24, 1845. 

" The undersigned, envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary of the United States of America, had the honor to receive, on 
the evening of Sunday the 21st instant, the communication of Mr. 
Pena y Peila, dated on the preceding day. The undersigned will 
abstain from the full expression of the feelings of astonishment and 
dissatisfaction which its perusal has so naturally excited, fearful 
that, if he did not do so, he might overstep the bounds which cour- 
tesy and the usages of diplomatic intercourse prescribe, in address- 
ing a person occupying the distinguished position of Mr. Peiia y 
Pena ; but he should be recreant alike to the character, dignity, and 
interests of the government which he has the honor to represent, 
were he not to point out to your excellency, and through him to tlie 
people of the United States and of Mexico, the misstatements, (and 
he begs to be understood that he uses this word in no invidious 
sense,) which the communication of your excellency contains of the 
correspondence which induced the appointment of the undersigned, 
refute the reasoning by which Mr. Peiia y Peiia attempts to sustain 
the refusal of the Mexican government to receive him, and apprize 
him of the very grave consequences to which a persistence in that 
refusal will probably lead. 

" In performing this ungrateful duty, the undersigned will sedu- 
lously endeavor to avoid every expression that could, by possibility, 
offend the just sensibilities of the Mexican government ; but this 
feeling, sincerely entertained, would degenerate into culpable weak- 
ness, were he to withhold any fact or suppress any argument neces- 
sary to the faithful discharge of the task which has been imposed 
upon him,— that of vindicating the strict correctness of the course 
pursued by his government, and demonstrating tlie glaring impro- 
priety of that which the Mexican govermnent seems determined to 
pursue. 

'' For this purpose, it will be necessary to make a brief reference 
to the difficulties which existed between the two countries, when, at 
the instance of your excellency, the consul of tlie United States, 
acting by authority of his government, addressed to your excellen- 



APPENDIX. 241 

cy, on the 13th of October last, a letter, the substance of which had 
been communicated orally to your excellency in a confidential 
interview two days previously. Diplomatic relations had been sus- 
pended by the recall of General Almonte, the Mexican minister at 
Washington, in March last, and the subsequent withdrawal of the 
minister of the United States from Mexico. 

" Mexico considered herself aggrieved by the course which the 
United States had pursued in relation to Texas, and this feeling, it 
is true, was the immediate cause of tlie abrupt termination of all 
diplomatic relations ; but the United States, on their part, had causes 
of complaint, better founded and more serious, arising out of the 
claims of its citizens on Mexico. 

" It is not the purpose of the undersigned to trace the history of 
these claims, and the outrages from which they sprung. The an- 
nals of no civilized nation present, in so short a period of time, so 
many wanton attacks upon the rights of persons and property as 
have been endured by citizens of the United States from the 
Mexican authorities — attacks that would never have been tolerated 
from any other nation than a neighboring and sister republic. They 
were the subject of earnest, repeated, and unavailing remonstrance, 
during a long series of years, until at last, on the 11th of April, 
1839, a convention was concluded for their adjustment. As, by the 
provisions of that convention, the board of commissioners organized 
for the liquidation of the claims was obliged to terminate its duties 
within eighteen months, and as much of that time was lost in pre- 
liminary discussions, it only acted finally upon a small portion of 
the claims, the amount aAvarded upon which amounted to $2,026,139, 
(two millions twenty-six thousand one hundred and thirty-nine 
dollars ;) claims were examined and awarded by the American 
commissioners, amounting to $928,627, (nine hundred and twenty- 
eight thousand six hundred and twenty-seven dollars,) upon which 
the umpire refused to decide, alleging that his authority had ex- 
pired, while others, to the amount of $3,336,837, (three millions 
three hundred and thirty-six thousand eight hundred and thirty- 
seven dollars,) remained altogether unacted upon, because they had 
been submitted too late for the decision of the board. In relation 
to the claims which had been submitted to the board of commis- 
sioners, but were not acted on for want of time, amounting to 
$4,265,464, (four millions two hundred and sixty-five thousand four 
hundred and sixty-four dollars,) a convention was signed in this 
21 



242 APPENDIX. 

capital on the 20th of November, 1843, by Mr. Waddy Thompson, 
on the part of the United States, and Messrs. Bocanegra and Tri- 
gueros, on that of Mexico, which was ratified by the senate of the 
United States, with two amendments manifestly reasonable and 
necessary. Upon a reference of these amendments to the govern- 
ment of Mexico, it interposed evasions, difficulties, and delays of 
every kind, and has never yet decided whether it would accede to 
them or not, althougli tlie subject has been repeatedly pressed by 
the ministers of the United States. Subsequently, additional claims 
have been presented to the department of state, exceeding in 
amount $2,200,000, (two millions two. hundred thousand dollars,) 
showing in all, the enormous aggregate of $8,491,G03, (eight mil- 
lions four hundred and ninety-one thousand six hundred and three 
dollars.) But what has been the fate even of those claimants 
against the government of Mexico, whose debt has been fully liqui- 
dated, recognized by Mexico, and its payment guarantied by the 
most solemn treaty stipulations ? The Mexican government, finding 
it inconvenient to pay the amount awarded, either in money or in 
an issue of treasury notes, according to the terms of the conven- 
tion, a new convention was concluded on the 30th of January, 1843, 
between the two governments, to relieve that of Mexico from this 
embarrassment. By its terms, the interest due on the whole amount 
awarded Avas ordered to be paid on the 30th of April, 1843, and the 
principal, v/ith the accruing interest, was made payable in five 
years, in equal instalm.ents, every three months. Under tliis new 
agreement, made to favor Mexico, tlie claimants have only received 
the interest up to the 30th April, 1843, and three of the twenty 
instalments. 

" The undersigned has not made this concise summary of tlie 
injuries inflicted upon American citizens during a long series of 
years, coeval indeed with the existence of the Mexican republic, 
reparation for which has been so unjustly delayed, for the purpose 
of recrimination, or to revive those angry feelings which it was the 
object of his mission to assuage, and, if possible, by friendly and 
frank negotiation, to bury in the most profound oblivion ; but simply 
to prove, that if the proposition made by his government, through 
its consul, for the renewal of diplomatic relations, presented any 
ambiguity, (which, he will proceed to show, does not exist,) it could 
not, by any fair rule of construction, bear the interpretation which 
your excellency has given to it. The United States have never 



APPENDIX. 243 

yet, in the course of tlieir history, failed to vindicate, and success- 
fully, too, against the most powerful nations of the earth, tlie rights 
of their injured citizens. If such has been their course ' in their 
infancy, and when comparatively feeble, it cannot be presumed that 
they will deviate from it now. 

" Mr. Pena y Peiia says, that, having communicated to his excel- 
lency the president of the republic the note of the undersigned, of 
the 8th instant, with a copy of his credentials, and the letter of the 
secretary of state of the United States relative to his mission, he 
regrets to inform the undersigned, that although the supreme gov- 
ernment of the republic continues to entertain the same pacific and 
conciliatory intentions which your excellency manifested to the 
consul of the United States in his confidential note of 14th October 
last, it does not think that, to accomplish tlie object Avhich was pro- 
posed by the said consul, in the name of the American government, 
and which was accepted by Mr. PeHa y Pefia, it is in the situation 
{este en el caso) to admit the undersigned in the character with 
which he comes invested, of envoy extraordinary and minister 
plenipotentiary resident in the republic, and that, to sustain this 
refusal, Mr. Peila y Pefia will briefly expose to the undersigned the 
reasons which have governed his excellency the president. Youi 
excellency then proceeds to say that the proposition in question 
was spontaneously made by the government of the United States, 
and accepted by that of Mexico, to give a new proof that even in 
the midst of its injuries, and of its firm determination to exact 
adequate reparation for them, it neither repelled nor undervalued 
the measure of reason and peace to which it was invited, so that 
the proposition, as well as its acceptance, turned upon the precise 
and positive supposition that the commissioner should be ad hoc; 
that is to say, to arrange in a peaceftil and decorous manner the 
questions of Texas. This has not been done, since the undersigned 
does not come in that capacity, but in the absolute and general 
capacity of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, to 
reside in that quality near the Mexican govermnent. That if the 
undersigned be admitted in this character, which differs essentially 
from that which was proposed for his mission on the part of the 
United States, and which was accepted by the Mexican govern- 
ment, it would give room to believe that the relations of the two 
republics became at once open and free; which could not take 
place, without the questions, which had brought about the state 



244 APPENDIX. 

of interruption which now exists, were previously terminated peace- 
ably, but in a decorous manner for Mexico. 

" If your excellency had not himself conducted the preliminary 
and informal negotiation with the consul of the United States, of 
which the preceding version is given by him ; if the letter of tlie 
consul had not been addressed to, and answered by, your excellency, 
the undersigned would be constrained to believe that your excel- 
lency had derived his knowledge of it from some unauthentic source. 
But, as this is not the case, the undersigned trusts that your excel- 
lency will pardon him if he suggests the doubt whether your 
excellency — constantly occupied, as he must for some time past 
have been, by the disturbed state of the internal affairs of the 
republic — has reperused the letter of the consul of October 13, 
and the answer of your excellency of October 15, with that scru- 
pulous attention which the gravity of the case demanded ; and 
whether the lapse of time has not left on the mind of your excel- 
lency but a vague and incorrect impression of what really occurred. 
Another solution, however, of this difficulty suggests itself to the 
undersigned, and he shall be most happy to find that it is tlie correct 
one. Your excellency refers to his answer to the consul as being 
dated on the 14th October, while the letter of your excellency, now 
in possession of the consul, is dated on the 15th October, as the 
undersigned has had occasion to verify by personal inspection ; and 
he repeats, that he will learn with the greatest satisfaction that his 
present peculiar and most embarrassing position is the result of 
unintentional error on the part of the Mexican government. 

" The undersigned will now proceed, by precise and literal quota- 
tion from the letter of the consul, of October 13, to show, in the 
most conclusive manner, that the government of the United States 
proposed to send to Mexico an envoy intrusted with full power to 
adjust all the questions in dispute between the two powers ; and that the 
Mexican government, through your excellency, in the letter of 
October 15, declared itself disposed to receive the commissioner of the 
United States, ivho might come to this capital with full powers to settle 
those disputes in a peaceful, reasonable, and honorable vutnner. The 
consul, in his letter of October 13, said, that in a confidential inter- 
view with your excellency, which took place on the 11th October, 
he had the honor to inform your excellency, that he (the consul) had 
received a communication from the secretary of state of the United 
States ; and having, in that interview, made known to your excel- 



APPENDIX. 245 

lency the substance of said communication, your excellency, having 
heard and considered with due attention the statement read from the 
said communication, stated that, as the diplomatic relations between 
the two governments had been, and still were, suspended, the inter- 
view should have no other character than that of a confidential 
meeting ; to which he (the consul) assented, considering it only in 
that light. That your excellency then requested that he (the consul) 
might, in the same confidential manner, communicate in Avriting 
what had thus been made known verbally ; that, in conformity with 
that request, he transcribed that part of the communication of the 
secretary of state of the United States, which was in the following 
words : ' At the time of the suspension of the diplomatic relations 
between the two countries, General Almonte was assured of the 
desire felt by the president to adjust amicably every cause of com- 
plaint between the governments, and to cultivate the kindest and 
most friendly relations between the sister republics. He still con- 
tinues to be animated by the same sentiments. He desires that all 
existing differences should be terminated amicably by negotiation, 
and not by the sword. Actuated by tliese sentiments, the president 
has directed me to instruct you, in the absence of any diplomatic 
agent in Mexico, to ascertain from the Mexican government whether 
they would receive an envoy from the United States, intrusted tvith 
full power to adjust all the questions in dispute between the two 
governments. Should the answer be in the affirmative, such an envoy 
will be immediately despatched to Mexico.' 

" Your excellency, under date of October 15, in reply to the con- 
sul, said, — 

" ' I have informed my government of the private conference 
which took place between you and myself on the 11th instant, and 
have submitted to it the confidential letter which you, in consequence 
of, and agreeably to, what was then said, addressed to me yesterday. 
In answer, I have to say to you, that although the Mexican nation is 
deeply injured by the United States, through the acts committed by 
them in the department of Texas, belonging to tliis nation, my 
government is disposed to receive the commissioner of the United 
States, who may come to this capital with full powers to settle the 
'present dispute in a peaceful, reasonable, and honorable manner ; 
thus giving a new proof, that, even in the midst of its injuries, and 
of its firm determination to exact adequate reparation of them, it 
21* • 



246 ■ APFENDIX. 

does not repel nor undervalue the measure of reason and peace to 
which it is invited by its adversary. 

" 'As my government believes this invitation to be made in good 
faith, and witli the real desire that it may lead to a favorable con- 
clusion, it also hopes that the commissioner will be a person endowed 
with the qualities proper for the attainment of this end; that his 
dignity, prudence, and moderation, and the discreetness and reason- 
ableness of his proposals, will contribute to calm, as mnch as 
possible, the just irritation of the Mexicans ; and, in fine, that the 
conduct of the commissioner may be such as to persuade them 
that they may obtain satisfaction for their injuries through the 
means of reason and peace, and without being obliged to resort to 
those of arms and force. 

" 'What my government requires above all things is, that the 
mission of the commissioner of the United States should appear to 
be always absolutely frank, and free from every sign of menace or 
coercion; and thus, Mr. consul, while making known to your 
government the disposition on the part of that of Mexico to receive 
the commissioner, you should impress upon it, as indispensable, the 
recall of the whole naval force now lying in sight of our port of ■ 
Vera Cruz. Its presence would degrade Mexico while she is 
receiving the commissioner, and would justly subject the United 
States to the imputation of contradicting, by acts, the vehement 
desire of conciliation, peace, and friendship, which is professed and 
asserted by words. I have made known to you, Mr. consul, with 
the brevity which you desired, the disposition of my government ; 
and, in so doing, I have the satisfaction to assure you of my consid- 
eration and esteem for you personally.' 

" The undersigned has transcribed the letter of yom* excellency at 
length and verbatim, on account of the discrepancy of dates, to 
which he has before adverted, in order that your excellency may 
have an opportunity of comparing it with the copy on the files of his 
office. Argument and illustration would be superfluous to show 
that the offer of the United States was accepted by your excellency 
without any other condition or restriction than that the whole naval 
force, then lying in sight of Vera Cruz, should be recalled. That 
condition was promptly complied with, and no ship of war of the 
United States has since appeared at Vera Cruz, excepting those 
which have conveyed thither the undersigned, and the secretary of 
his legation. Nor is it the intention of his government that any 



A PFENDIX. 247 

should appear at Vera Cruz, or any other port of the republic on 
the Gulf of Mexico, excepting such only as may be necessary for 
the conveyance of despatches. 

" The undersigned has said that no other condition or restriction 
was placed by Mr. Peiia y Peila upon the acceptance of the prop- 
osition made through the consul, than that of the Avithdrawal of the 
naval force of the United States from Vera Cruz, because he will 
not do your excellency the injustice to suppose that any reliance is 
placed by your excellency on the mere verbal distinction between 
the terms envoy and commissioner, when the proposition of tlie 
United States, and the acceptance of your excellency, alike contem- 
plated the appointment of a person intrusted with full powers to 
settle the questions in dispute. Indeed, your excellency admits that 
the title of the diplomatic agent is of no importance, by using the 
words commissioner and plenipotentiary ad hoc, as convertible 
terms. * 

"Your excellency j-epeatedly and expressly admits that the Mex- 
ican government accepted the proposition of the United States, made 
through its consul, to send an envoy to Mexico. That proposition 
was frank, simple, and unambiguous in*its terms. If your excellen- 
cy, acting as the organ of the Mexican government, intended to 
qualify or restrict in any degree the acceptance of the proposition, 
such intention should have been manifested in terms not to be mis- 
understood ; and the undersigned unhesitatingly rejects a supposi- 
tion which would be inconsistent with the high respect which he 
entertains for Mr. Peila y Pena. that your excellency did not intend 
to respond to the proposition in a corresponding spirit of frankness 
and good faith. 

" The answer of your excellency to the consul, having been for- 
warded by him, the president of the United States promptly com- 
plied with the assurance which had been given, that an envoy would 
be sent to Mexico with full power to adjust all questions in dispute, 
by the appointment of the undersigned ; thus acting in accordance 
with the friendly feeling which prompted the government of the 
United States spontaneously (as your excellency correctly observes) 
to make peaceful overtures to the Mexican government ; for the 
consul, in submitting the proposition to your excellency, said, in 
conformity with his instructions, that ' If the president of the Uni- 
ted States had been disposed to stand upon a mere question of eti- 
quette, he would have waited until the Mexican government, which 



248 APPENDIX. 

had suspended the diplomatic relations between the two countries, 
should have asked that they might be restored ; but his desire is so 
strong to terminate the present unfortunate state of our relations 
with this republic, that he has even consented to waive all ceremony 
and take the initiative.' 

" The appointment of an envoy extraordinary and minister plen- 
ipotentiary, the highest grade of diplomatic agent ever employed by 
the government of the undersigned, afforded renewed proof, if any 
such proof could have been necessary, of the sincere desire of the 
president of the United States, to terminate the present unfortunate 
state of their relations with Mexico. What will be his surprise, 
when he is informed that this additional manifestation of his friendly 
feeling, invited by your excellency, has been rejected by the Mex- 
ican government with contumely ? for, notwithstanding the protesta- 
tions of peace and good-will with which the rejection of the under- 
signed is accompanied, he must be excused if he look to the acts 
rather than the words of the Mexican government, as the true expo- 
nents of its feelings. 

" There remains another argument on which Mr. De la Peiia y 
Peiia bases the refusal to receive the undersigned, which will be 
briefly noticed. Your excellency says, that although it is true, that, 
in the letter of credence of the undersigned, it is said that he is 
informed of the desire which the president of the U-nited States has 
to reestablish, cultivate, and strengthen the friendship and good cor- 
respondence of the two countries, yet neither tliat clause, and 
still less the single word reestablish, is sufficient to give to the under- 
signed the special character of commissioner, or, what is equivalent, 
(d Men sea,) of plenipotentiary ad hoc, to make propositions on the 
affairs of Texas, capable of establishing peace, and avoiding the 
evils of war, by means of a competent arrangement. Your excel- 
lency is pieced to say, that it will not escape the discernment [ilustra- 
don) of the undersigned, that j;he powers of such a plenipotentiary 
should be relative, adequate, and confined by their terms to the 
business for which he is nominated, and that the nomination v/hich 
has been made in his person, conferring upon him the character of 
a full and general minister, of an ordinary plenipotentiary, to reside 
near the Mexican government, is very far from offering those qual- 
ities. The undersigned is free to confess that your excellency has 
paid an unmerited compliment to his discernment, in supposing that 
this distinction could not have escaped him ; for, by the very terms 



APPENDIX. . 249 

of his credentials, he is not merely an ordinary plenipotentiary, but 
an envoy extraordinary ; and as such he is intrusted with full powers 
to adjust all the questions in dispute between the two governments ; 
and, as a necessary consequence, the special question of Texas. 

" It is not usual for a minister to exhibit his powers, until he has 
been accredited ;'^and, even then, they are not called for until a 
treaty is either to be made or concluded, or a particular affair of 
importance negotiated. Still, had your excellency thought proper 
to intimate a wish to be informed on this subject, the undersigned 
would not have hesitated to furnish him with a copy of his powers, 
by which your excellency would have perceived that the under- 
signed is, in due form, invested with full and all manner of power and 
authority, for and in the name of the United States, to treat with the 
Mexican republic of and concerning limits and boundaries between 
the United States of America and the Mexican republic, and of all 
matters and subjects connected therewith, and which may be inter- 
esting to the two nations, and to conclude or sign a treaty or con- 
vention touching the premises. 

" Your excellency says the supreme government of the republic 
cannot admit the undersigned to the exercise of the mission which 
has been conferred upon him by that of the United States ; but, as 
it has not in any degree changed the sentiments which your excel- 
lency manifested to the consul, in his communication of the 14th of 
October last, he now repeats them, adding that he will have the 
greatest pleasure in treating with the undersigned, so soon as he 
shall present the credentials which would authorize him expressly 
and solely to settle the questions which have disturbed the harmony 
and good intelligence of the two republics, and which will lead 
them to war if they be not satisfactorily arranged ; which settle- 
ment was the object of the proposition of the government of the 
United States, and was the express condition of the Mexican gov- 
ernment in accepting it; without it, the undersigned cannot be 
received in the capacity in which he presents himself, since it would 
compromit the honor, dignity, and interests of the Mexican repub- 
lic. The undersigned concurs fully with your excellency in the 
opinion expressed by him, that the questions which have disturbed 
the harmony and good intelligence of the two republics will lead 
them to war, if they be not satisfactorily arranged. If this, unfor- 
tunately, should be the result, the fault will not be with the United 



250 APPENDIX. 

States ; the sole responsibility of such a calamity, with all its con- 
sequences, must rest Avith the Mexican republic. 

" The undersigned would call the attention of your excellency to 
tlie strange discrepancy between the sentiments expressed in the 
clause of his letter last cited, and the conclusion at which he ar- 
rives, that the reception of the undersigned would compromit the 
honor, dignity, and interests of the Mexican republic. Your excel- 
lency says that he will have the greatest pleasure in treating with 
the undersigned, so soon as the undersigned shall present creden- 
tials which would authorize him expressly and solely to settle the 
questions which have disturbed the harmony and good intelligence 
of the two republics. What are these questions? The grievances 
alleged by both governments ; and these the undersigned is fully 
impowered to adjust. Does the Mexican government, after having 
formally accepted the proposition of the United States, arrogate to 
itself the right of dictating not only the rank and title which their 
diplomatic agent shall bear, but the precise form of the credentials 
which he shall be permitted to present, and to trace out, in ad- 
vance, the order in which the negotiations are to be conducted ? 
The undersigned, with every disposition to put the most favorable 
construction on the language of your excellency, cannot but con- 
sider it as an absolute and unqualified repudiation of all diplomatic 
intercourse between the two governments. He fears that the Mex- 
ican government does not properly appreciate tlie friendly overtures 
of the United States, who, although anxious to preserve peace, are 
still prepared for war. 

"Had tlie undersigned been accredited by the Mexican govern- 
ment, it would have been free to choose the subjects upon which it 
would negotiate, subject, of course, to the discretion of the under- 
signed, controlled by his instructions, to treat upon the isolated 
question of Texas ; and, should it have been found impossible to 
agree upon a basis of negotiation, his mission, which was not in- 
tended to be one of mere ceremony, would probably soon have 
terminated, leaving the relations of the two countries in the state 
in which the undersigned found them. If the undersigned had 
been admitted to the honor of presenting his credentials to his 
excellency the president of the republic, he was instructed to as- 
sure his excellency of the earnest desire which the authorities and 
people of the United States entertain to restore those ancient 



APPENDIX. 251 

relations of peace and good will which formerly existed between 
the governments and citizens of the two republics. Circumstances 
have of late estranged the sympathies of the Mexican people, 
which had. been secured towards their brethren of the north by the 
early and decided stand which the United States had taken and 
maintained in favor of the independence of the Spanish American 
republics on this continent. The great object of the mission of the 
undersigned was to endeavor, by the removal of all mutual causes 
of complaint for the past, and of distrust for the future, to revive, 
confirm, and, if possible, to strengthen those sympathies. The 
interests of Mexico and of the United States are, if well under- 
stood, identical, and the most ardent wish of the latter has been to 
see Mexico elevated, under a free, stable, and republican govern- 
ment, to a distinguished rank among the nations of the earth. Such 
are the views of the government of the undersigned, and such was 
the spirit in which he was directed to act. As for the undersigned, 
while it was made his duty to manifest this feeling in all his official 
relations with the government of Mexico, it would have been to 
him, individually, a source of great gratification to have contribu- 
ted, by every means in his power, to the restoration of those senti- 
ments of cordial friendship which should characterize the inter- 
course of neighboring and sister republics. 

" The undersigned is not to have the opportunity of carrying 
these intentions into effect Mexico rejects the olive branch which 
has been so frankly extended to her, and it is not the province of 
the undersigned to criticise the motives and comment upon the 
influences, foreign or domestic, which have induced her to pursue 
this course, or to speculate upon the consequences to which it may 
lead. For a contingency so unexpected and unprecedented, no 
foresight could have provided ; and the undersigned consequently 
finds himself without instructions to guide him in his very delicate 
and singular position. He shrinks from taking upon himself tlie 
fearful responsibility of acting in a matter that involves interests so 
momentous, and, as no motive can exist for protracting his stay in 
this capital, he will proceed in a few days to Jalapa, where he can 
communicate more speedily with his government, and there await 
its final instructions. 

"The undersigned received with the communication of your 
excellency a sealed letter, directed to the secretary of state of the 
United States, with a request that it might be forwarded to its ad- 



252 APPENDIX, 

dress. He regrets that he cannot comply with this request. The 
letter from the secretary of state to your excellency, of which the 
undersigned was the bearer, w^s unsealed, and he cannot consent 
to be made the medium of conveying to his govermnent any offi- 
cial document from tliat of Mexico while he is ignorant of its con- 
tents. If Mr. Peixa y Peila will favor the undersigned with a copy 
of his letter to tlie secretary of state, the undersigned will be happy 
to forward the original with his first despatches. 

" He takes this occasion to tender to his excellency D. Manuel 
de la Peiia y Feua the renewed assurances of his distinguished 
consideration. JOHN SLIDELL. 

*' His excellency Manuel de la Pena y Pena, 

Minister of Foreign Relations and GoverntnenL" 



o. 

LETTER. 

Pena y Pena to the Council. 

♦' Department op Foreign Relations, Government, and Police, ? 

Mexico, December 11, 1845. > 

" I have the honor to submit to the council, through the medium 
of your excellency, the documents relative to the appointment of a 
commissioner of the government of the United States of America, 
for the peaceable settlement of the questions at issue between the 
two republics. 

" As you will please to observe to the council, the proposition to 
appoint such a commissioner came spontaneously from the American 
government, which made it through the medium of its consul in 
Mexico ; and our government accepted it, with the declaration that 
it did so in order to give a new proof, that even in the midst of its 
grievances, and of its firm decision to exact adequate reparation, it 
neither repelled nor contemned the measure of reason and peace to 
which it was invited, so that the proposition as well as the accept- 
ance, rested upon the exact and definite understanding that the 
commissioner should be appointed ad hoc ; that is to say, for the set- 
tlement of the questions of Texas in a pacific and honorable manner. 

" As the council will also see, in the last official communications 



APPENDIX. 253 

among the documents submitted, Mr. John Slidell has arrived in this 
capital, as commissioner of the United States; but it does not appear 
that this gentleman has been appointed by his government as a 
minister instructed specially to treat on the questions of Texas, but 
with the general and absolute attributes of an envoy extraordinary 
and minister plenipotentiary, and tliat he is to reside in that character 
near the Mexican government, in the same manner and almost in the 
same words used in accrediting Mr. Wilson Shannon, as may be 
seen by reference to the document on that subject, hereAvith sub- 
mitted. 

" From these facts naturally flow the following reflections : — 

" First. The mission of this commissioner has degenerated sub- 
stantially from the class proposed on tlie part of the United States, 
and accepted by our government. 

" Secondly. If this commissioner should be received simply in the 
character in which he appears, grounds would justly be afforded for 
the presumption that the relations between us and the United 
States remain free and open ; a presumption which would be in 
reality most erroneous, and at the same time most injurious to the 
dignity and interests of Mexico. 

" Thirdly. Should he be admitted in the character in which he 
presents himself, however explicitly we might protest that he was 
received only for the purpose of hearing his peaceful propositions 
respecting the affairs of Texas, it would always appear to the whole 
world that he had been received as, and had been a minister plenipo- 
tentiary residing near the Mexican republic ; and it is evident that 
this fact might serve to conflise or to diminish the most clear and 
direct protests. 

. " Fourthly. The government of Mexico neither could nor ought 
to refuse the invitation given to it en the part of the United States, 
to hear and deliberate upon peaceful propositions respecting Texas. 
In adopting this course, which morality requires, prudence counsels, 
and the most learned and judicious publicists recommend, the gov- 
ernment observed the principle which they lay doAvn as just and 
proper : ' As the evil of war is terrible, in the same proportion are 
nations called on to reserve to themselves the means of terminating 
it It is therefore necessary that they should be able to send minis- 
ters to each other, even in the midst of hostilities, in order to make 
propositions for peace, or tending to diminish the fury of arms. 
* * * It ma,y be stated as a general maxim, that the minister 
22 



254 APPENDIX. 

of an enemy ought always to be admitted and heard ; that is to say, 
that war alone, and of itself, is not a sufficient reason for refusing 
to hear any proposition which an enemy may offer,' &.c. But if this 
doctrine be just and rational, so also it is just, that the fact of a 
nation's having assented to hear propositions of peace, made to it 
by its enemy, should not serve as a means of obscuring its rights, 
and silencing, in that way, the demands of its justice. Such would 
be the case, if Mexico, after assenting to receive and hear a com- 
missioner of the United States, who should come to make proposi- 
tions of peace respecting tlie department of Texas, should admit a 
minister of that nation, absolute and general, a common plenipoten- 
tiary to reside near the Mexican republic. 

" Fifthly' It is true, that in the communication addressed to our 
president, by the president of the United States, it is declared that 
the commissioner is informed of the sincere desire of the latter to 
restore, cultivate, and strengthen friendship and good correspondence 
between the two countries ; but it is clear that neither this clause, 
nor still less the single word restore, is sufficient to give to Mr. Sli- 
dell the special character of commissioner to make propositions 
respecting Texas, calculated to establish peace firmly, and to arrest 
the evils of war by a definitive settlement. The reason of this is, 
that the full powers of such a minister should be adequate to the 
business for v/hich he is appointed. 

" Sixthly. The settlement which the United States seek to effect 
in order to attain peace and good correspondence with Mexico, 
which have been suspended by the occurrences in Texas, is a point 
necessarilyto.be determined before any other whatever ; and until 
that is terminated entirely and peacefully, it will be impossible to 
appoint and admit an American minister to establish his residence 
near the government of Mexico. 

" Seventhly. Moreover, the president of the United States cannot 
appoint ambassadors, nor any other public ministers, nor even con- 
suls, except with the consent of the senate. This is fixed by the 
second paragraph of the second section, article second, of their 
national constitution. But in the credentials exhibited by Mr. 
Slidell, this requisite, indispensable to give legality to his mission, 
does not appear. 

" Eighthly. Nor could that requisite have appeared, as Mr. Slidell 
was appointed by the president on the 10th of November last, and 
Congress did not assemble until the first Monday of the present 



APPENDIX. 255 

month of December, agreeably to the second paragraph of the fourth 
section, article first, of the same constitution. 

^^jYinthly, and finally. It is a principle most salutary and natural 
tliat he who is about to treat with another has the right to assure 
himself by inquiries as to the person and the powers of the individ- 
ual Avith whom he is to enter into negotiation. And this universal 
principle of jurisprudence extends also to affairs between nation 
and nation. Hence comes the necessity that every minister should 
present his credentials ; and hence his examination and qualification 
by the government to which he presents himself 

"From all these considerations tlie supreme government con- 
cludes that Mr. Slidell is not entitled to be admitted in the case in 
question as a commissioner of the government of the United States, 
with the object of hearing his propositions, and settling upon them 
the affairs of Texas ; that it will admit the commissioner when- 
ever he may present himself in compliance with the conditions 
wanting in the credentials as above mentioned ; and tliat this should 
be the answer given to him. The supreme government, however, 
desiring to fortify its judgment, in a case of so delicate a nature, by 
the opinion of its enlightened council, hopes that this body will, 
without delay, communicate what it considers proper to be done on 
the affair. 

"MANUEL DE LA PENA Y PENA." 



P. 

LETTER 

Of Mr. Black to Mr. Slidell. 

[Extracts.] 

" Consulate of the United States op America, ^ 
Mexico, Dece7nher 15, 1845. ) 
" In compliance with your request, I have the honor to give you, 
herewith, a written statement of what passed between his excel- 
lency Manuel de la Peiia y Peiia, minister of foreign relations, «&c., 
of the Mexican government, and myself, in the two interviews had 
with the said minister, on the evenings of the 8th and I3th instant, 
held at his house, as follows : — 

" At the interview of Monday evening, the 8th instant, which 



256 APPENDIX. 

took place between the hours of six and seven, I stated to his excel- 
lency that I presumed he knew of the arrival in this city of the 
Hon. John Slidell, as envoy, &c., from the government of the United 
States. He replied that he had been informed of it that day. I 
then told him that I had made known to Mr. Slidell what his excel- 
lency had communicated to me, in our interview of Wednesday, the 
3d instant, in relation to the fears entertained by the Mexican 
government on account of his arrival at this time, as it would have 
better suited the Mexican government, and they would be more 
able to carry out their views in relation to the mission, if the envoy 
had arrived a month later ; and that our minister, Mr. Slidell, had 
regretted much that he had not known the wish of the Mexican 
government in relation to this point before he left home, as it would 
also have better suited his convenience to have deferred his coming 
a month longer ; but it was his impression tliat it was the wish of 
the Mexican government that he should arrive with as little delay 
as possible. 

" His excellency replied that he had been under the impression, 
from what had been intimated by myself and others, that an envoy 
would not be appointed by the government of the United States until 
after the meeting of Congress, which would not take place until the 
first of December ; that the Mexican government were engaged in 
collecting the opinion of the departments in relation to this affair, 
in order that they might be prepared and better able to carry out 
their views respecting the same ; that he himself was well disposed 
to have everything amicably arranged, but that the opposition was 
strong, and opposed the government with great violence in this 
measure, and that the government had to proceed with great caution ; 
that nothing positive could be done until the new Congress meet in 
January; but that, in the meantime, they would receive the 
minister's credentials, examine them, and be treating on the subject. 
He wished to know Avhen I thought tlie minister would receive the 
confirmation of his appointment by the senate. I said, this he would 
likely know in a few days. *- * * 

" I then presented to his excellency the letter of the Hon. John 
Slidell, enclosing a copy of his credentials and a letter fi-om the 
Hon. James Buchanan, secretary of state of the United States ; at 
the same time asldng the Mexican minister when it would be con- 
venient to give an answer ; to which he replied, on Wednesday 
evening, the 10th instant, at the same hour and place, and requested 



APPEIS'DIX. 257 

that I would attend to receive the same accordingly ; to which I 
consented ; but, about four o'clock in the afternoon of that day, I 
received a note from Mr. Monasterio, chief clerk of the foreign 
department, advising me that the minister could not receive me that 
night (as agreed on) on account of it having been determined to hear 
the opinion of the governm.ent council on the subject of the arrival 
of the minister from the United States ; but as soon as he was ready 
for the conference arranged with me, he would have the pleasure to 
advise me, as will be seen by a copy of said note, which I transmit 
herewith. 

" On Saturday evening, the 13th instant, at the request of ]\Ir. 
Slidell, I called on the Mexican minister, Seiior Peiia, at his house 
to inquire when an answer would be given to his (Mr. Slidell's) 
aforesaid note. He replied, that the affair had been submitted to the 
government council, in a special session of this day, and that it had 
been referred to a committee, and that as soon as the committee 
made a report, and the council should decide, he would then advise 
me, through Mr. Monasterio, when he was ready for the conference 
to present to me the answer for Mr. Slidell ; as he said when he 
came to examine the credentials of Mr. S. he found them to be the 
same as those presented by Mr. Shannon, and otlier former ministers 
— as a minister to reside near the government of Mexico, just as if 
there had been no suspension of the diplomatic and friendly rela 
tions between the two governments ; that the Mexican government 
understood tlie present mission to be a special mission, and confined 
to the differences in relation to the Texas question, and not as a 
mission to reside near the Mexican government, as in ordinary 
cases ; that of course would follow when the first question Avas 
decided. 

" I replied, that as I understood it, the Mexican government had 
not only agreed to receive an envoy, intrusted with full powers to 
settle the questions in dispute in relation to the affairs of Texas, but 
all the questions in dispute between the two governments, as pro- 
posed by the government of the United States. He replied, that the 
credentials of Mr. Slidell had not reference to any questions in dis- 
pute, but merely as a minister to reside near the Mexican govern- 
ment, without reference to any questions in dispute, just as if the 
diplomatic and friendly relations between the two governments had 
not been and were not interrupted ; that I knew the critical situation 
of the Mexican government, and that it had to proceed witli great 
22* 



258 APPENDIX. 

caution and circumspection in this affair ; that the government itself 
was well disposed to arrange all differences. ^ ■* * 

" He said he Avas happy to say that he had received very favor- 
able information in relation to our minister, the Hon. Mr. Slidell ; 
that he understood he was a person indued with excellent qualities, 
and an eminent lawyer ; and as he himself was of that profession, 
they would be able to understand each other better, and tliat he 
would be much pleased to cultivate his acquaintance ; and that if 
etiquette and the present state of affairs would permit, he would be 
happy to pay him a visit, even before he was presented to the govern- 
ment ; and said he would advise me, through Mr. Monasterio, when 
he was ready to present to me the answer to Mr. Slidell's note. 

" The foregoing, sir, is, as far as my recollection Avill serve, a true 
statement of what passed between the aforesaid Mexican minister 
and myself in the beforementioned interviews." 



BOUNDARY OF TEXAS. 

In his message of December, 184G, Mr. Polk says, — 
" The Texas which was ceded to Spain by the Florida treaty of 
1819, embraced all the country now claimed by the state of Texas 
between the Nueceg and the Rio Grande. The republic of Texas 
always claimed this river as her western boundary, and in her treaty 
made with Santa Anna, in May, 1836, he recognized it as such. 
By the constitution which Texas adopted in March, 1836, senato- 
rial and representative districts were organized extending west of 
the Nueces. The Congress of Texas, on the 19th of December, 
1836, passed ' An act to define the boundaries of the republic of 
Texas,' in which they declared the Rio Grande, from its mouth to 
its source, to be their boundary, and by the said act they extended 
their ' civil and political jurisdiction ' over the country up to that 
boundary. During a period of more than nine years, which inter- 
vened between the adoption of her constitution and her annexation 
as one of the States of our Union, Texas asserted and exercised 
many acts of sovereignty and jurisdiction over the teiTitory and 
inhabitants west of the Nueces. She organized and defined the 



APPENDIX. 259 

limits of countries extending to the Rio Grande. She established 
courts of justice and extended her judicial system over the tei-rito- 
ry. She established a custom-house, and collected duties, and also 
post-offices and post roads, in it. She established a land office, and 
issued numerous grants for land, within its limits. A senator and a 
representative residing in it were elected to the Congress of the 
republic, and served as such before the act of annexation took 
place. In both the Congress and convention of Texas, which gave 
their assent to the terms of annexation to the United States, pro- 
posed by our Congress, were representatives residing west of the 
Nueces, who took part in the act of annexation itself This was 
the Texas which, by the act of our Congress of the 29th of De- 
cember, 1845, was admitted as one of the States of our Union. 
That the Congress of the United States understood the State of 
Texas, which tliey admitted into the Union, to extend beyond the 
Nueces is apparent from the fact, that on the 31st of December, 
1845, only two days after the act of admission, they passed a law 
' to establish a collection district -in the State of Texas,' by which 
they created a port of delivery at Corpus Christi, situated west of 
the Nueces, and being the same point at which the Texas custom- 
house, under the laws of that republic, had been located, and di- 
rected that a surveyor to collect the revenue should be appointed 
for that port by the president, by and with the advice and consent 
of the senate. A surveyor was accordingly nominated, and con- 
firmed by the senate, and has been ever since in the performance 
of his duties. All these acts of tlie republic of Texas, and of our 
Congress, preceded the orders for the advance of our army to the 
east bank of the Rio Grande. Subsequently, Congress passed an 
act ' establishing certain post routes,' extending west of the Nu- 
eces. The country west of that river now constitutes a part of one 
of the congressional districts of Texas, and is represented in the 
house of representatives. The senators from that State were 
chosen by a legislature, in which the country west of that river was 
represented. In view of all these facts, it is difficult to conceive 
upon what ground it can be maintained that, in occupying the 
country west of the Nueces witli our army, with a view solely to 
its security and defence, we invaded the territory of Mexico. But 
it would have been still more difficult to justify the executive, 
whose duty it is to see that the laws be faithfully executed, if in 
the face of all these proceedings, both of the Congress of Texas 



260 APPENDIX. 

and of tlie United States, he had assumed the responsibility of 
yielding up the territory west of the Nueces to Mexico, or of re- 
fusing to protect and defend this territory and its inhabitants, inclu- 
ding Corpus Christi, as well as the remainder of Texas, against tlie 
tlireatened Mexican invasion." 



R. 

PEOCLAMATION OP GENERAL "WOLL. 

" HEADaUARTERS OF THE ArMY OF THE NoRTH, ? 

MiER, June 20, 18i4. \ 
" I, Adrian Woll, general of brigade, &c., make known, — 
" 1. The armistice agreed on with the department of Texas 
having expired, and the war being, in consequence, recommenced 
against the inhabitants of that dQpartment, all communication with 
it ceases. 

" 2. Every individual, of whatever condition, who may contra- 
vene provisions of the preceding article, shall be regarded as a 
traitor, and shall receive the punishment prescribed in article 45, 
title 10, treatise 8, of the articles of war. 

" 3. Every individual who may be found at the distance of one 
league from the left bank of the Rio Bravo, will be regarded as a 
favorer and accom.plice of the usurpers of that part of tlie national 
temtory, and as a traitor to his country ; and, after a summary mili- 
tary trial, shall receive the said punishment. 

"4. Every individual who may be comprehended within the pro- 
visions of the preceding article, and may be rash enough to fly at 
the sight of any force belonging to the supreme government, shall 
be pursued until taken, or put to death. 

" 5. In consideration of the situation of the towns of Laredo 
and Santa Rita de Ampudia, as well as of all the farm-houses 
beyond the Rio Bravo, in which remain all the interests of tlie in- 
habitants of the line committed to my charge, I have tliis day 
received, from the supreme government, orders to determine the 
manner by which those interests are to be protected ; but, until the 
determination of the supreme government be received, I warn all 
those who are beyond the limits here prescribed to bring tliem 



APPENDIX. 261 

within the line, or to abandon them, as those who disobey this 
order will infallibly suffer the punishment here established. 

"ADRIAN WOLL/' 



EXTRACT FROM GENERAL RUSK'S SPEECH. 

" I might here go back and array names that would command 
respect, and among them the names of such men as Mr. Monroe, 
Mr. Madison, Mr. Jefferson, and Mr. Clay, to establish the fact that 
the territory of Texas extended originally to the Rio Grande. But 
it is unnecessary for my present purpose to do so. The boundary 
of Tex||L as now claimed, is the boundary established by revolution, 
and thaf^oundary is the Rio Grande. 

"Mexico, after having adopted constitutions, state and federal, 
conforming very nearly to those of the United States, passed liberal 
laws, and held out strong inducements to the people of every clime, 
to encourage the settlement of Texas. This was done, not so much 
for the benefit of those who might take up their abode within that 
district of country, as for the purpose of redeeming that valuable 
portion of her territory from the dominion of the savage, which 
Mexico had struggled to accomplish, but without success, for cen- 
turies past. 

Before Austin went into Texas with his colonists, hostile Indians 
roamed in bands througliout the country, unrestrained. They 
were constantly committing depredations, robbing the people of 
their property, and carrying into abject bondage the women and 
children of the frontier settlements. For the purpose, then, of 
driving out this ruthless foe, were inducements held out to the 
colonists to settle there. Until the year 1834, with but few inter- 
ruptions, there existed a state of peace and quietness. In that year 
Santa Anna, at the head of the military poAver, overthrew the con- 
stitution of 1824, abolished the state governments, and established 
one of tlie most tyrannical and absolute governments that ever 
existed. The government thus established by Santa Anna is 
misunderstood here — it was an absolute government. It is true that 
there was the name of a congress, but it was the name alone. The 
president was, in reality, the supreme dictator. He called a con- 



262 APPENDIX. 

gress of notables around him, but that congress was entirely sub 
seirvient to his will. Another feature in the central constitution was, 
that the president had the power to appoint, at his pleasure, an 
executive council from tlie different portions of the community, the 
industrial classes, the priesthood, tlie military, the commercial, and 
others. They were, however, from the very nature of the tenure of 
their offices, his creatures, and, if they were not subservient to his 
views, he could remove them at his pleasure. Again ; it was one 
of the fundamental articles of this central government, that the pres- 
ident, with tlie advice of his council, might suspend the action of 
any other department of the government, so that, in reality, absolute 
power was vested in the president. 

" The people of Texas were unwilling to commence the revolu- 
tion — they were anxious to avoid a collision with Mexico. They 
sent Austin to Mexico to represent their condition, and to ask some 
guaranty that they should not be disturbed in the enjoymewof their 
rights. Without any cause, and even without charges having been 
preferred against him, he was seized and incarcerated in the loath- 
some dungeons of Mexico, where, in fact, he contracted the disease 
which terminated his honorable and useful life. In order to carry 
out the establishment of this central government, it became necessary 
for Santa Anna to possess himself of all the physical power in 
Mexico. With a view to this, he procured the passage of a decree 
requiring the States, as well as individuals, to surrender up all the 
arms which they had in their possession. This law was enforced 
tliroughout Mexico. State constitutions were destroyed ; States 
v/ere declared to be mere departments ; were deprived of all legis- 
lative authority, and their governors were appointed by the central 
govermnent. This law was, as I have said, enforced all over Mexico, 
although there were some States which held out for some time 
against it. The State of Zacatecas, afler a sharp contest, yielded, 
and other States made but a feeble resistance. Texas could not 
yield to it — she could not yield to such a decree. We were 
surrounded by hostile Indians, the Camanches and various other 
tribes, who were committing depredations on our frontiers. The 
Indians settled amongst us, greatly exceeded our own population in 
point of numbers, and it was known that Mexican agents had been 
among them urging them to take up the tomahawk and scalping- 
knife, and exterminate the Texans. If we had submitted to have 
our arms taken from us, the result would have been indiscriminate 



APPENDIX. 263 

massacre. Under such circumstances, there is scarcely any one, I 
presume, who would have asked us to give up our arms, even to 
avoid the charge of being land rohhers. An attempt was made by 
Santa Amia to enforce this law in Texas. 

"The people of the various municipalities had elected delegates 
to meet in general consultation, at San Felipe, to determine whether 
we would submit to tlie central government, and to agree upon some 
definite course of combined action. This convention was to 
assemble in October, 1835. 

" About this time, however. General Cos, at the head of an army 
of central troops, crossed the Rio Grande, left a garrison at Lipan- 
titlan, on the west side of tlie Nueces, and one at Goliad, and 
marched with his main force to San Antonio, where he established 
his headquarters. During this march, there was no movement on 
our part to take up arms ; we were quietly assembling at San Felipe 
to consult as to A\^hat course we should adopt. About the time 
General Cos reached San Antonio, he sent a detachment of two 
hundred cavalry to Gonzales, a small town in the neighborhood of 
that place, to demand from its citizens the surrender of a small 
piece of ordnance, which had been purchased by them as a means 
of defence against the Indians. They asked twenty-four hours to 
consider, and finally refused to surrender their cannon, but gave the 
assailants its contents, and a fight ensued between them and the 
Mexican cavalry ; and thus, sir, the revolution commenced. 

" As the news of this occniTence spread, the citizens from all 
quarters shouldered their rifles and hurried to the contest. Captain 
Dimmit raised a company of men, took the garrison at Goliad, 
marched to Lipantitlan, where he was joined by citizens residing on 
both sides of the Nueces, as well as some who resided on the Rio 
Grande ; and, at the head of this combined force, captured the fort 
and dispersed the central troops. 

" The convention, which had in the meanwhile assembled at San 
Felip6, declared against the central government, and protested 
against the military despotism of Santa Anna, and in favor of the 
constitution of 1824, inviting all the States of tlie confederacy to 
join them in restoring that constitution and reclaiming their liberties. 
General Cos, who had been closely besieged in his fortifications at 
San Antonio, capitulated, after having been beaten. Many of the 
citizens who resided between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, were 
attached to the army which captured General Cos. Now, sir, I 



264 APPENDIX. 

would ask, was it not right that we should include them in the 
benefits of our victory, and provide for their safety ? I say, sir, 
would it have been just or honorable in those of us who resided east 
oT the Nueces, to have provided for our own security, and to have 
left those west of that river, from whom we had received valuable 
aid, to the tender mercies of the Mexican dictator ? We did provide 
for their safety — many of them have since fallen — we have 
always asserted and stood by the rights of their widows and orphans, 
and, anxious as we were for peace and a termination of the war 
with Mexico, there never has been a time when Texas would not 
have hazarded her very existence as a nation, in any contest, 
however unequal, rather than have abandoned them to the enemy. 
Life and liberty were the stakes for which we fought — mere terri- 
tory was a secondary, very secondary consideration. These people 
had dared to resist the central power — they had perilled every thing 
and had joined us — had rendered important services, and we had 
cheerfully accepted their aid in the hour of adversity, and I, for one, 
sir, think it was 7wt discreditable to us that we regarded their rights 
and stipulated for their security in our prosperity. General Cos was 
forced to enter into a capitulation which protected the rights of those 
citizens, and which forms the first link in the chain of our title to 
the ten-itory extending to the Rio Grande. Mr. President, I will ask 
the favor that the secretary will read the copy of that instrument, 
which I hold in my hand. The secretary read as follows : — 

" * Capitulation entered into by General Martin Perfecto de Cos, of the 
Permanent Troops, and General Edivard Burleson, of the Colonial 
Troops of Texas. 

" ' Being desirous of preventing the farther effusion of blood, and 
the ravages of civil war, we have agreed on the following stipulations : 

" ' 1st. That General Cos and his officers retire with their arms and 
private property, into the interior of the republic, under parole of 
honor ; that they will not in any way oppose the establishment of 
the federal constitution of 1824. 

" ' 2d. That the one hundred infantry lately arrived with the con- 
victs, the remnant of the battalion of Morelos, and the cavalry, 
retire with the general ; taking their arms, and ten rounds of car- 
tridges for their muskets. 

" ' 3d. That the general take the convicts lately brought in by 
Colonel Ugartachea beyond the Rio Grande. 



APPENDIX. 265 

" ' 4th. That it is discretionary with the troops to follow their 
general, remain, or go to such point as they may deem proper ; but 
in case they should, all or any of them, separate, they are to have 
their arms, &c. 

" ' 5th. That all the public property, money, arms, and munitions 
of war, be inventoried and delivered to General Burleson. 

" ' 6th. That all private property be restored to its proper owners. 

" ' 7th. That three officers of each army be appointed to make out 
the inventory, and see that the terms of capitulation be carried into 
effect. 

" ' 8th. That three officers on the part of General Cos remain for 
the purpose of delivering over the said property, stores, &c. 

" ' 9th. That General Cos with his force, for the present, occupy 
the Alamo ; and General Burleson, with his force, occupy the town 
of Bexar ; and that the soldiers of neither party pass to the other, 
armed. 

" ' 10th. General Cos shall, within six days from the date hereof, 
rem.ove his force from the garrison he now occupies. 

"'11th. In addition to the arms before mentioned. General Cos 
shall be permitted to take with his force, a four-pounder and ten 
rounds of powder and ball. 

" ' 12th. The officers appointed to make the inventory and delivery 
of the stores, &c., shall enter upon the duties to which they have 
been appointed forthwith. 

" ' 13th. The citizens shall be protected in their persons and 
property. 

" ' 14. General Burleson will furnish General Cos with such pro- 
visions as can be obtained, necessary for his troops to the Rio 
Grande, at the ordinary price of the country. 

" ' 15th. The sick and wounded of General Cos's army, together 
with a surgeon and attendants, are permitted to remain. 

" ' 16th. No person, either citizen or soldier, to be molested on 
account of his political opinions hitherto expressed. 

" ' 17th. That duplicates of this capitulation be made out in Cas- 
tilian and English, and signed by the commissioners appointed, and 
ratified by the commanders of both armies. 

" ' 18th. The prisoners of both armies, up to this day, shall be 
put at liberty. 

" ' 19th. The commissioners, Jos6 Juan Sanchez, adjutant-in- 
spector, Don Ramon Musquiz, and Lieutenant Francisco Rada, and 
23 



266 APPENDIX. 

interpreter Don Miguel Arciniega, appointed by the commandant 
and inspector, General Martin Perfecto de Cos, in connection with 
colonel F. W. Johnson, Major R. C. Morris, and Captain J. G. 
Swisher, and interpreter John Cameron, appointed on the part of 
General Edward Burleson ; after a long and serious discussion, 
adopted the eighteen preceding articles, reserving their ratification 
by the generals of both armies. 

" ' In virtue of which, we have signed this instrument in the city 
of Bexar, on the 11th of December, 1835. 

(Signed,) JOSE JUAN SANCHEZ, 

RAMON MTJSQUIZ, 
J. FRANCISCO DE RADA, 
MIGUEL ARCINIEGA, Interpreter, 
F. W. JOHNSON, 
ROBERT C. MORRIS, 
JAMES G. SWISHER, 
JOHN CAMERON, Interpreter. 
** *I consent and will observe the above articles. 

(Signed,) MARTIN PERFECTO DE COS. 

" ' Ratified and approved. 

(Signed,) EDWARD BURLESON, 

Comma7icler-in-chief of the Volunteer Ar7mj. 
" ' A true copy, EDWARD BURLESON, 
Commander-in-Chief.' ■ 

" General Cos, sir, with his convicts and soldiers, retired to the 
west bank of the Rio Grande. 

" Thus, sir, the citizens of Texas, east of the Rio Grande, had, 
so far, successfully resisted the change of government The mili- 
tary despotism had no foothold remaining on this side of that 
stream. Up to this time we had been contending for the constitu- 
tion, which had been overthrown, and not for a separate national 
existence. 

" Santa Aima, bent upon the possession of absolute power, was 
not to be thus balked in his views. He immediately mustered a 
large and well-appointed army, and at its head, put himself en route, 
for our extermination. He could not remain quiet while a few 
freemen on this side of the Rio Grande were in the enjoyment of 
rational liberty, and would not bow and worship at the footstool of 
his power. The rest of Mexico had submitted ; no response to the 
shout of constitutional liberty reached us from beyond the Rio 



APPENDIX. 267 

Grande. Santa Anna was rapidly advancing upon us, tlireatening 
extermination, and we had no alternative left but to assume a sep- 
arate national existence. A convention was accordingly called in 
haste, to which the people between the Nueces and the Rio Grande 
sent delegates. We declared our independence — appealed to the 
civilized world for the justice of our cause, and trusting to the God 
of battles, put ourselves in position to defend our rights. Santa 
Anna advanced with great rapidity, and the first blood that flowed 
in tliis campaign was shed upon the territory between the Nueces 
and the Rio Grande. The Alamo was surrounded, and its brave 
defenders, to a man, perished by the sword. Fanning surrendered, 
and, in violation of the most solemn stipulations for the safety of 
his command, he and his gallant men were inhumanly butchered in 
cold blood. Most of tlie male inhabitants of the country west of 
the Nueces found bloody but honorable graves. Santa Anna con- 
tinued his rapid advance, spreading ruin and devastation on his 
path. He was met at San Jacinto by seven hundred and eighty 
freemen, and the result is before the world ; half of his force was 
slain, the remainder, including himself, captured. 

" Santa Anna now occupied a delicate position. His life justly 
forfeited to us, was held by a doubtful tenure. His government at 
home was unpopular with the great mass of the people. The only 
support upon which he could rely for political existence, was the 
army at different points in Texas, now reduced to some five thou- 
sand men, under the command of General Filisola. To save his 
own life, the remnant of his army, and his government, were im- 
portant objects. Only the day before, he was the government of 
Mexico^ now he was a prisoner. He obtained permission and wrote 
to General Filisola, who, in his answer, promised to obey implicitly 
all orders which he should give him. Santa Anna at once proposed 
to General Houston and the secretary of war, then in camp, to ac- 
knowledge the independence of Texas extending to the Rio Grande. 
They declined to enter into negotiations, and turned Santa Anna 
over to the civil government, (which consisted of a president and 
cabinet, ad interim, elected for the emergency, by the convention.) 
Santa Anna urged them to enter into negotiations with him, which 
they did, and which treaty, (here a senator remarked that it was not 
a treaty.) I think it was a treaty, sir, and I shall have occasion 
further to remark upon it hereafter." (See Appendix G.) 



268 APPENDIX. 



AN ACT 

TO DEFINE THE BOUNDARIES OF THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS. 

" Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the Republic of Texas in Congress assembled, That from and after 
the passage of this act, the civil and political jurisdiction of this 
Repubic be, and is hereby, declared to extend to the following 
boundaries, to wit : Beginning at the mouth of the Sabine River, and 
running west along the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, to 
the mouth of the Rio Grande ; thence up the principal stream of said 
river to its source, thence due nortli to the forty-second degree of 
north latitude, thence along the boundary line, as defined in the 
treaty between the United States and Spam, to the beginning; and 
tliat the president be, and he is hereby, autliorized to open a nego- 
tiation with the government of the United States of America, so 
soon as, in his opinion, the public interest requires it, to ascertain 
and define the boundary line as agreed upon in said treaty. 

''IRA INGRAM, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
"RICHARD ELLIS, 
President of the Senate, pro tern. 
"Approved, December 19, 1836. SAM. HOUSTON." 



JOINT RESOLUTION 

FIXING THE DIVIDING LINE BETWEEN THE COUNTIES OF BEXAR AND 
SAN PATRICIO. 

" Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
Republic of Texas in Congi-ess assembled, That a direct line running 
from the junction of the Cibolo or San Bartolo Creek to the Rio 
Frio, at a point thirty miles above its junction with the Nueces, 
thence in a direct line to the town of Loredo, shall be considered 
tlie dividing line between the counties of San Patricio and Bexar, 
and shall be respected as such by the surveyors of the respective 
counties. Provided, That this act shall not affect rights previously 
acquirea by surveys legally made by the surveyors of the county 



APPENDIX. 269 

of San Patricio below the old road from San Antonio to the Presi- 
dio of the Rio Grande. 

"JOSEPH ROWE, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
"MIRABEAU B. LAMAR, 

Preside7it of the Senate. 
" Approved, May 24, 1838. SAM. HOUSTON." 



u. 

MINUTES OE AN INTERVIEW 

Between Brigadier-General W. J. Worth, United States Army, and Gen- 
eral Romulo Vega, of the Mexican Army, held on the right Bank of the 
Rio Grande, 28th March, 1846. 

" On exhibiting a white fla^ on the left bank of the Rio Grande, 
a boat, with two officers, (represented as cavalry officers,) with an 
interpreter, the same who appeared at the crossing of the Colorado, 
and a fourth person, crossed from the right bank of the river. 

" It was stated through an interpreter, (Mr. Mitchell,) that a general 
officer of the United States army had been sent by his commanding 
general, with despatches to the commanding general at Matamoras, 
and the civil authorities, and an interview requested. 

" After some conversation explanatory of the above, the Mexican 
party recrossed the river, to report to the commanding general at 
Matamoras, and return with his reply. An open note for the Amer- 
ican consul at Matamoras, with an indorsement on the back in pen- 
cil, was delivered to the Mexican officer by General Worth, who 
replied that he should hand it to the commanding general. ' Cer- 
tainly, of course,' was General Worth's remark in reply. 

"On the return of the same party. General Mejia sent word that, 
if the commanding general of the American forces desired a con- 
ference with the commanding general of the Mexican forces, it 
would readily be complied with ; but as the American commander 
had designated a subordinate officer to meet General Mejia, the 
commanding officer of the Mexican forces. General Mejia, could 
not entertain such a proposition, but that an officer of corresponding 
rank and position in the Mexican forces would be designated to re- 
ceive any communication sent by General Taylor. 
23* 



270 APrENDix. 

" It was perceived that the relation of the parties was misappre- 
hended, they supposing that a conference was requested ; tliis was 
corrected immediately, and it was reiterated that General Worth 
was merely the bearer of despatches, with authority to relate ver- 
bally certain matters of interest to the commanding general at Mat- 
amoras. 

" The proposition of General Mejia was then acceded to, with the 
remark that this was a mere question of form, which should not be 
permitted to interfere with any arrangements necessary to the con- 
tinuance of the friendly relations now existing between the two 
governments. 

" The Mexican party returned to the right bank, and after a short 
absence, returned, stating that General Romulo Vega would receive 
General Worth on the right bank of the river, (their own proposition,) 
for the reception of any communication which General Worth might 
have to make from the commanding general. 

" General Worth then crossed the river, accompanied by Lieuten- 
ant Smith, A. D. C., Lieutenants Magruder, Deas, and Blake, 
attached to his staff, together with Lieutenant Knowlton, as inter- 
preter. 

" On arriving at the right bank of the river, General Worth was 
received by General Vega with becoming courtesy and respect, and 
introduced to ' the authorities of Matamoras,' represented in the per- 
son of the Licenciado Casares. 

" On the Mexican part, were present. General Vega, the Licenci- 
ado Casares, two officers, (represented as cavalry officers,) an inter- 
preter, with a person named Juan N. Garza, official de defensores. 

" After the usual courtesies on meeting, it was stated by General 
Worth that he was bearer of despatches from the commanding gen- 
eral of the American forces to General Mejia and the civil authori- 
ties of Matamoras ; a written and unsealed document was produced, 
and General Vega, desiring to know its contents, it was carefully 
read and translated into Spanish by the Mexican interpreter. 

" General Vega then stated that he had been directed to receive 
such communications as General Worth might present from his 
commanding general, going on to say that the march of the United 
States troops through a part of the Mexican territory, (Tamaulipas, j 
was considered as an act of war. 

" General Worth. I am well aware that some of the Mexican 
people consider it an aggressive act, but — (interrupted by the Mex- 



APPENDIX. 271 

ican interpreter, and after a slight discussion of the international 
question on the part of General Vega,) — General Worth repeated 
the above remark, adding that it was not so considered by his gov- 
ernment; that the army had been ordered there by his government, 
and there it would remain; whether rightfully or otherwise, that was 
a matter to be settled between tlie two governments. General Vega 
still disposed to argue the merits of the case, was told by General 
Worth that he came to state facts, not to argue them. 

" General Worth here stated that he had been sent with a des- 
patch from his commanding general to General Mejia ; that General 
Mejia h'ad refused to receive it from him in person ; adding with 
emphasis, and some degree of warmth, ' I now state that I with- 
draw this despatch,' having read it merely as an act of courtesy to 
General Vega ; that, in addition to the written despatch to General 
Mejia, I am authorized to express verbally the sentiments with 
which the commanding general proposed to carry out the instruc- 
tions of his government, in which he hoped to preserve the peace- 
able relations between the two governments, leaving all questions 
between the two countries to be settled by their respective govern- 
ments; and if, hereafter. General Mejia wished to conmiunicate 
with General Taylor, he, General Mejia, must propose the means, 
assuring General Vega that, should General Mejia present himself 
or his communications by a subaltern officer, in either case they 
would be received witli becoming courtesy and hospitality. 

"The question of right of territoj^^was again opened by General 
Vega, who asked how the United States government would view 
the matter, should the Mexican troops march into or occupy a por- 
tion of the territory of the United States ? 

" General Worth replied, that General Vega might probably be 
familiar with the old proverb, ' Sufficient for the day is the evil 
thereof,' and that it would be time enough to reply to such a propo- 
sition when the act itself Avas perpetrated. 

" This proverb did not appear to have been translated by the 
Mexican interpreter, but was received by General Vega with a 
smile and a slight shrug. 

" General Worth. Is tlie American consul in arrest, or in prison ? 

" General Vega. No. 

" General Worth. Is he now in the exercise of his proper func- 
tions ? 

" General Vega, after apparently consulting with the Licenciado 
Casares for a moment, replied that he was. 



272 APPENDIX. 

" General Worth. Then, as an American officer, in the name of 
my government and my commanding general, I demand an inter- 
view with the consul of my country. (No reply.) 

" General Worth. Has Mexico declared war against the United 
States ? 

" General Vega. No. 

"General Worth. Are the two countries still at peace .^ 

" General Vega. Yes. 

" General Worth, Then I again demand an interview with the 
consul of my government, in Matamoras ; in the presence, of course, 
of these gentlemen, or any other that the commanding general in 
Matamoras may be pleased to designate. General Vega reiterated 
that the consul was in the proper exercise of his functions ; that he 
was not in arrest, nor were any other Americans in arrest in Mata- 
moras ; that he would submit the demand to General Mejia, adding, 
that he thought there would be great difficulty. 

" This demand was repeatedly made in the most emphatic man- 
ner, and a reply requested ; General Vega stating the consul con- 
tinued in the exercise of his functions, and that General Worth's 
demand would be submitted to General Mejia. 

"Here the interview was suspended, while the licenciado left 
the party to submit (as was understood) the demand for an interview 
with the consul to General Mejia. While engaged in friendly in- 
tercourse. General Worth stated to General Vega, in an informal 
manner, as an evidence of thei good faith, intentions, and disposi- 
tion of his commanding general, that he, General Taylor, was well 
aware of the importance of Brazos Santiago to the commerce and 
business community of Matamoras ; that he respected their laws 
and customs, and would freely grant entrance and exit to all Mexi- 
can and other vessels trading with Matamoras on the same terms 
as before its occupation by the United States, leaving all questions 
arising therefrom to be settled hereafter by the two governments. 

" At the expiration of about a quarter of an hour, the Licenciado 
Casares returned and reported that General Mejia would not accede 
to the request for an interview on the part of General Worth ; say- 
ing nothing, however, relative to the question of the consul. ' 

" General Vega was then again informed that the despatch in- 
tended to be delivered to General Mejia by General Worth, in 
person, would be returned by him. General Worth, to his command- 
ing general, considering any other disposition of it as disrespectful 



APPENDIX. 273 

to him ; repeating that it had been read to General Vega as an act 
of courtesy to him, and that General Mejia must take his own meas- 
ures of communicating with General Taylor, adding, that whether 
General Mejia should send a superior or subaltern officer to General 
Taylor, at all times accessible, he would be received with becom- 
ing courtesy and hospitality. General Worth then presented a 
written and sealed document for the civil authorities of Matamoras, 
which was received by General Vega and immediately transfeiTod 
to the Licenciado Casares. 

" General Vega. Is it the intention of General Taylor to remain 
with his army on the left bank of the Rio Grande ? 

" General Worth. Most assuredly, and there to remain until di- 
rected otherwise by his government. 

" General Vega remarked that ' we ' felt indignation at seeing 
the American flag placed on the Rio Grande, a portion of the Mex- 
ican territory. 

" General Worth replied, that was a niatter of taste ; notwith- 
standing, there it Avould remain. The army had been ordered to 
occupy its present position by its government; it has come in a 
peaceable rather than belligerent attitude, with a determination to 
respect the rights and customs of those on the right bank of the 
Rio Grande, while it oifers protection to all on the left bank within 
the territory of the United States. 

" No reply having been received from General Vega relative to 
the demand for an interview with the American consul, the ques- 
tion was again introduced by General Worth, and the demand for 
the last time reiterated. 

" General Vega then promptly refused to comply with the de- 
mand ; replying, without waiting for the interpretation, ' No, no.' 

" General Worth. I have now to state that a refusal of my demand 
to see the American consul is regarded as a belligerent act ; and, 
in conclusion, I have to add, the commanding general of the Amer- 
ican forces on the left bank of the river will regard the passage of 
any anned party of Mexicans in hostile array across the Rio Grande 
as an act of war, and pursue it accordingly. 

" The interview here terminated, and General Worth and staff 
relumed to the left bank of the river. 

" The above is the substance of the interview between Generals 
Worth and Vega ; is a fair statement of the conversation, and, as 



274 APPENDIX. 

nearly as possible, stating the exact words and expressions used on 
the occasion. 

«*M. KNOWLTON, 

1st Lieut. 1st Artillery. 
'«J. BANKHEAD MAGEUDER, 

1st Lieut. 1st A7-tillery, Acting A. D. C. 
«'ED. DEAS, 

1st Lieut. 4:th Artillery, 
"J. EDM'D BLAKE, 

1st Lieut. Top. Eng. 
"LARKIN SMITH, 

1st Lieut, and A. D. C." 



CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN GENERALS TAYLOR AND 
AMPUDIA. 

Geno'al Taylor to General Ampudia. 

"Headquarters, Army of Occupation, 
Camp near Matamoras, Texas, April 12, 1846. 

"Senor: I have had the honor to receive your note of this date, 
in which you summon me to withdraw the forces under my com- 
mand from their present position, and beyond the river Nueces, until 
the pending question between our governments, relative to the limits 
of Texas, shall be settled. 

" I need hardly advise you that, charged as I am, in only a mili- 
tary capacity, with the performance of specific duties, I cannot enter 
into a discussion of the international question involved in the 
advance of the American army. You will, however, permit me to 
say that the government of the United States has constantly sought 
a settlement, by negotiation, of the question of boundary ; that an 
envoy was despatched to Mexico for that purpose, and that up to 
the most recent dates said envoy had not been received by the actual 
Mexican government, if indeed he has not received his passports 
and left the republic. In the mean time, I have been ordered to 
occupy the country up to the left bank of the Rio Grande, until the 
boundary shall be definitively settled. In carrying out these instruc- 



APPENDIX. 275 

Irons I have carefully abstained from all acts of hostility, obeying, 
in this regard, not only the letter of my instructions, but the plain 
dictates of justice and huvmnity. 

" The instructions under which I am acting will not permit me to 
retrograde from the position I now occupy. In view of the relations 
between our respective governments, and the individual suffering 
which may result, I regret the alternative which you offer ; but, at 
the same time, wish it understood that I shall by no means avoid 
such alternative, leaving the responsibility with those who rashly 
commence hostilities. In conclusion, you Avill permit me to give 
the assurance that on my part the laws and customs of war among 
civilized nations shall be carefully observed. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Z. TAYLOR, 
•^Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. A.^ comma^iding, 

** Seifior General D. Pedro de Ampudia. 

[Translation.] 
Ge7ieral Amjmclia to General Taylor. 

** Fourth Military Division, i 
General-in-Chief. y 

"To explain to you the many grounds for the just grievances felt 
by the Mexican nation, caused by the United States government, 
would be a loss of time, and an insult to your good sense ; I there- 
fore pass at once to such explanations as I consider of absolute 
necessity. 

"Your government, in an incredible manner — you will even 
permit me to say, an extravagant one, if the usage or general rules 
established and received among all civilized nations are regarded — 
has not only insulted, but has exasperated the Mexican nation, 
bearing its conquering banner to the left bank of the Rio Bravo del 
Norte ; and in this case, by explicit and definitive orders of my 
government, which neither can, will, nor should receive new out- 
rages, I require you, in all form, and at latest in the peremptory term 
of twenty-four hours, to break up your camp and retire to the other 
bank of the Nueces river, while our governments are regulating the 
pending question in relation to Texas. . If you insist in remaining 
upon the soil of the department of Tamaulipas, it will clearly result 
that arms, and arms alone, must decide the question ; and in that 



276 APPENDIX. 

case I advise you that we accept the war to which^ with so mnch 
injustice on your part, you provoke us, and that, on our part, this 
war shall be conducted conformably to the principles established by 
the most civilized nations, that is to say, that the law of nations and 
of war shall be the guide of my operations; trusting that on your 
part the same will be observed. 

" With this view, I tender you the considerations due to your 
person and respectable office. 

" God and Liberty ! 

" Headghtarters at Matamoras, 2 o'clock P. M.^ April 12, ISIS. 

"PEDRO D'AMPUDIA. 

" Soior General-in-Chief of the United States Artnyy 
" Don Z. Taylor." 

Geyieral Taylor to Adjuta7it- General Jones. 

'« Headquarters, Army of Occupation, -i 
Camp near ISIatamoras, Texas, April 26, 1846. > 

" Sir : I have respectfully to report that General Arista arrived 
in Matamoras on the 24th instant, and assumed the chief command 
of the Mexican troops. On the same day he addressed me a com- 
munication, conceived in courteous terms, but saying that he con- 
sidered hostilities commenced, and should prosecute them. A 
translation of his note, and copy of my reply, will be transmitted 
the moment they can be prepared. I despatch this by an express 
which is now waiting. 

" I regret to report that a party of dragoons, sent out by me on 
the 24th instant, to watch the course of the river above on this bank, 
became engaged with a very large force of the enemy, and after a 
short affair, in which some sixteen were killed and wounded, appear 
to have been surrounded and compelled to surrender. Not one of 
the party has returned, except a wounded man sent in this morning 
by the Mexican commander, so that I cannot report with confidence 
the particulars of the engagement, or the fate of the officers, except 
that Captain Hardee was known to be a prisoner, and unhurt. 
Captain Thornton, and Lieutenants Mason and Kane, were the other 
officers. The party was sixty-three strong. 

" Hostilities may now be considered as commenced, and I have 
this day deemed it necessary to call upon the governor of Texas for 
four regiments of volunteers, two to be mounted and two to serve as 
foot. As some delay must occur in collecting these troops, I have 



APPEiMDIX. 277 

also desired the governor of Louisiana to send out four regiments 
of infantr})- as soon as practicable. Tliis will constitute an auxiliary 
force of nearly 5000 men, which will be required to prosecute the 
war with energy, and carry it, as it should be, into the enemy's 
country. I trust the department will approve my course in this 
matter, and will give the necessary orders to the staff departments 
for the supply of this large additional force. 

" If a law could be passed authorizing the president to raise 
volunteers for twelve months, it would be of the greatest importance 
for a service so remote from support as this. 

"I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Z. TAYLOR, 
" Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. A., commanding, 

*• The Adjutant- General of the Army, 

" Washington, D. C. 



.} 



w. 

LETTER. 

General Taylor to General Ampudia. 

"Headquarters, Army of Occupation, 
Camp near Matamoras, Texas, .^j^ril 22, 1846. 

" Sir : I have had the honor to receive your comnmnication of 
this date, in whicli you complain of certain measures adopted by my 
order, to close the mouth of the Rio Bravo against vessels bound to 
Matamoras, and in which you also advert to the case of two Mexicans 
supposed to be detained as prisoners in this camp. 

" After all that has passed since the American army first approach- 
ed the Rio Bravo, I am certainly surprised that you should com- 
plain of a measure which is no other than a natural result of the 
state of war so much insisted upon by the Mexican authorities, as 
actually existing at this time. You will excuse me for recalling a 
few circumstances, to show that this state of war has not been 
sought by the American army, but has been forced upon it, and that 
the exercise of the rights incident to such a state cannot be made 
a subject of complaint. 
24 



278 APPENDIX. 

" On breaking* up my camp at Corpus Christi, and moving forward 
with the army under my orders to occupy the left bank of the Rio 
Bravo, it was my earnest desire to execute my instructions in a 
pacific manner ; to observe the utmost regard for the personal rights 
of all citizens residing on the left bank of the river, and to take 
care that the religion and customs of the people should suffer no 
violation. With this view, and to quiet the minds of the inhabi- 
tants, I issued orders to the army, enjoining a strict observance of 
the rights and interests of all Mexicans residing on the river, and 
caused said orders to be translated into Spanish, and circulated in 
the several towns on the Bravo. These orders announced the spirit 
in which we proposed to occupy the country, and I am proud to say 
that up to this moment the same spirit has controlled the operations 
of the army. On reaching the Arroyo Colorado I Avas informed by 
a Mexican officer that the order in question had been received in 
Matamoras, but was told at the same time that if I attempted to 
cross the river, it would be regarded as a declaration of war. 
Again, on my march to Frontone I was met by a deputation of the 
civil authorities of Matamoras, protesting against my occupation 
of a portion of the department of Tamaulipas, and declaring that 
if the army was not at once withdrawn, war would result. While 
this communication was in my hands, it was discovered that the 
village of Frontone had been set on fire and abandoned. I viewed 
this as a direct act of war, and infomied the deputation that their 
communication would be answered by me when opposite Matamo- 
ras, which was done in respectful terms. On reaching the river, I 
despatched an officer, high in rank, to convey to the commanding 
general in Matamoras the expression of my desire for amicable 
relations, and my willingness to leave open to the use of the citi- 
zens of Matamoras the port of Brasos Santiago, until the question 
of boundary should be definitively settled. This officer received for 
reply, fi-om the officer selected to confer with him, that my advance 
t,o the Rio Bravo was considered as a veritable act of war, and he 
was absolutely refused an interview with the American consul, in 
itself an act incompatible with a state of peace. Notwithstanding 
these repeated assurances on the part of the Mexican authorities, 
Rnd notwithstanding the most obviously hostile preparations on the 
right bank of the river, accompanied by a rigid non-intercourse, I 
-jarefully abstained from any act of hostility — determined that the 
"^nus of producing an actual state of hostilities should not rest with 



APPENDIX. 279 

me. Our relations remained in this state until I had the honor to 
receive your note of the 12th instant, in which you denounce war as 
the alternative of my remaining in this position. As I could not, 
under my instructions, recede from my position, I accepted the 
alternative you offered, and made all my dispositions to meet it 
suitably. But, stiJl willing to adopt milder measures before proceed- 
ing to others, I contented myself in the first instance, with ordering 
a blockade of the mouth of the Rio Bravo, by the naval forces under 
my orders — a proceeding perfectly consonant with the state of war 
so often declared to exist, and Avhich you acknowledge in your 
note of the 16th instant, relative to the late Colonel Cross. If this 
measure seem oppressive, I wish it borne in mind that it has been 
forced upon me by the course you have seen fit to adopt. I have re- 
ported this blockade to my government, and shall not remove it until 
I receive instructions to that effect, unless indeed you desire an 
armistice pending the final settlement of the question between the 
governments, or until war shall be formally declared by either, in 
which case I will cheerfully open the river. In regard to the conse- 
quences you mention as resulting from a refusal to remove the 
blockade, I beg you to understand that I am prepared for them, be 
they what they may. * * * 

" In conclusion, I take leave to state that I consider tlie tone of 
your communication highly exceptionable, where you stigmatize the 
movement of the army under my orders as ' marked with the seal 
of universal reprobation.' You must be aware that such language 
is not respectful in itself, either to me or to my government ; and 
while I observe in my own correspondence the courtesy due to your 
high position, and to the magnitude of the interests with which we 
are respectively charged, I shall expect the same in return. 

" I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

"Z. TAYLOR, 
Brevet Brig. Gen. U. S. Army, commanding. 

" Senor Gen. D. Pedro De Ampudia, 

Commanding in Matamoras. 



X. 

In a letter of Mr. Buchanan to Mr. Trist, he says, — 
" In the annals of history never has there been a war conducted 
in the same manner by invading forces. Instead of levying milita- 



280 i\PPENDlX. 

ry contributions for the support of our armies in the heart of oui 
enemy's country, we have paid fair, and even extravagant prices, 
for all the supplies which we have received. We have not only 
held sacred the private property of the Mexicans, but on several 
occasions have fed their famishing soldiers, and bound up their 
wounds. And what has been the return ? Treachery and cruelty 
have done their worst against us. Our citizens have been mur- 
dered, and their dead bodies mutilated, in cold blood, by bands of 
savage and cowardly guerillas ; and the parole of honor, sacred in 
all civilized warfare, has been habitually forfeited by Mexican offi- 
cers and soldiers. Those paroled at Vera Cruz have fought against 
us at Cerro Gordo ; and those paroled at Ceito Gordo have doubt- 
less been in the ranks of the enemy in the battles so glorious to 
our arms at and near tlie city of Mexico. 

" After the battle of Cerro Gordo, the president entertained seri- 
ous thoughts of modifying your instructions, at least so far as 
greatly to reduce the maximum sums which you were authorized to 
pay for portions of the Mexican territory ; but, wishing to afford to 
the world an example of continued moderation and forbearance in 
the midst of victory, he suffered them to remain unchanged. And 
what has been the consequence ? 

" After a series of brilliant victories, when our troops were at the 
gates of the capital, and it was completely in our power, the Mex- 
ican government have not only rejected your liberal offers, but have 
insulted our country by proposing terms, the acceptance of which 
would degrade us in the eyes of the world, and be justly condemned 
by the whole American people. They must attribute our liberality 
to fear, or they must take courage from our supposed political di- 
visions. Some such cause is necessary to account for their strange 
infatuation. In this state of affairs, the president, believing that 
your continued presence with the army can be productive of no 
good, but may do much harm by encouraging the delusive hopes 
and false impressions of the Mexicans, has directed me to recall 
you fi-om your mission, and to instruct you to return to the United 
States by the first safe opportunity. He has determined not to 
make another offer to treat with the Mexican government, though 
he will be always ready to receive and consider their proposals. 
They must now first sue for peace." 



APPENDIX. 281 



Y. 



REPORT 

From the Adjutant- General, m cotrvpliance with a Resolution of the House 
of Representatives, in relation to the Number of United States Troops 
that have been engaged iyi the War vtith Mexico, the Number who have 
been killed, died from Wounds, ^c. 

We can only give extracts from this report, and from that portion 
of it which is explanatory of the tables. 
The tables present the following- results : — 

THE REGULAR ARMY. 

" The strength of the army at the commencement of hostilities 
with the republic of Mexico, in April, 1846, 7244 ; the force on 
the frontier of Texas, May, 1846, present and absent, 3554, of 
which 131 were sick ; troops sent to Mexico, including recruits, 
23,136, of which 12,551 are of the old establishment, and 10,585 
new regiments, which, with the force on the Rio Grande in May, 
1846, makes the whole number of the regular army employed every 
where in the prosecution of the war, inclusive of December, 1847, 
about 26,690, besides a battalion of marines, (350.) Twenty-nine 
thousand men have been recruited since the 13th of May, 1846, 
and 23,556 sent to Mexico, which exceeds the number joined as 
reported on the rolls and returns, many of which are wanting. 

" The regular force in Mexico, New Mexico, and California, was, 
in December, about 21,202 ; and since the 1st of January, 2493 
recruits have been sent to the army, which increases the regular 
troops in all Mexico, it is estimated, to about 23,695. The six 
companies stationed in the United States, (556,) and 1200 recruits 
in depot and at rendezvous, (total 1750,) carry up the regular army 
every where, on the rolls, to about 25,445. 

CASUALTIES. 

" Old establishment : discharges, by expiration of service, 1435 ; 
for disability, 887; by order and civil authority, 253; — total, 2575. 

" Deaths. Killed in battle, 45 officers, 434 men ; died of wounds, 
19 officers, 331 men ; total killed and died of wounds, 64 officers, 
765 men; ordinary deaths, 44 officers, 1787 men: — total deaths, 
108 officers, 2552 mxen. Aggregate, 2660. 
24* 



282 APFEIMDIX. 

" Wounded. In battle, 130 officers, 1799 men ; aggregate, 1929. 

''Resignations. 32, in 1846 and 1847. 

" Desertions. 1637, of which 9 are marines. 

" Additional regiments : discharges, by expiration of service, 
2 ; for disability, 248 ; by order and civil authority, 56 ; — total, 
306. 

" Deaths. Killed in battle, 6 officers, 62 men ; died of wovmds, 4 
officers, 71 men ; total killed and died of wounds, 10 officers, 133 
men ; ordinary deaths, 28 officers, 977 men ; total deaths, 38 offi- 
cers, 1110 men. Aggregate, 1148. 

" Wounded. In battle, 41 officers, 427 men. Aggregate, 468. 

" Resignatio7is, 76 ; deseiiions, 445. 

THE VOLUNTEER SERVICE. 

" The whole number of volunteers mustered into the service from 
May, 1846 ; of which 15,911 are mounted men, 1164 artillery, and 
54,234 infantry, making an aggregate of 71,309, including 3087 
commissioned officers. From this number, it is proper to deduct 
the force not called out by authority of the war department, nor 
called out under the act of May 13, 1846, and also the number 
mustered, but soon after discharged, as supernumerary. This class 
is embraced in the three and six months' men, and two regiments 
of twelve months' men from Ohio and Missouri, and one company 
from Iowa, amounting to 14,383 ; of which 2774 were discharged 
a few days after being mustered into service, (except the company,) 
not being required to proceed to tlie seat of war. Deducting this 
class of volunteers from the aggregate mustered and paid, (71,309,) 
the force enrolled under the act of May 13, 1846, and under the 
5th section of the act of March 3, 1847, which authorizes the presi- 
dent to accept the services of ' individual volunteers ' to fill vacan- 
cies, &c., is about 56,926 officers and men. But this number was 
further reduced by discharges, &c., before the battalions had left 
the United States ; and it is probable that the number exceeded but 
little, if any 50,000 men, when put en route for the army. 

" So far as can be ascertained from the latest returns received, it 
appears that the volunteer force for the war and for 12 months, 
(2017,) now employed in Mexico, New Mexico, and California, 
(25,260,) and the eleven companies (1082) within the limits of the 
United States, the sick included, amounts to 1456 officers and 
24,886 men. Aggregate, 26,342, being 7589 less than the number 



APPENDIX. 283 

of the same regiments and companies (war men) when first mus- 
tered into service. But this difference does not show the actual 
loss ; first, because the greater number of the individual volunteers 
enrolled, (i. e., recruited,) among which there is much loss, had not 
joined their regiments at the date of the last returns, and were not 
of course taken up on the rolls, but they are included in the table, 
in the aggregate ' received into semce.' And second, tlie casual- 
ties, i. e., discharges and deaths, (ordinary,) exhibited in the state- 
ment, must be considerably under the actual number, owing to the 
missing muster rolls yet due from many of the regiments, from 
which the information alone can be obtained. 

" The following general statement presents a condensed view of 
the various objects of inquiry respecting the volunteer forces. 

" Three months^ men. The strength when mustered into service 
was 1390, and when discharged 1269, being a loss of 121. 

Discharges before the expiration of the term, 82, of which 3 Avere 
for disability. 

" Deaths, 18 ; ordinary, 8 ; killed in battle and died of wounds, 10. 

" Desertions, 22. 

" Six months' men, (but held only for three months, the legal term ;) 
strength when mustered into service, 11,150, and when discharged, 
9559 ; loss, 1591. 

" Discharges, before the expiration of the term, 826, of which 
•370 were for disability. 

" Deaths, 127 ; ordinary, 107 ; killed in battle and died of wounds, 
6 ; accidental, 14 ; desertions, 524. 

" Twelve months^ men. Strength when mustered into service, 
26,344, and when discharged, 18,724 ; loss, 7620, (including loss 
or difference between original and present strength of 21 compa- 
nies twelve months' men still in service, 2017 strong at the last 
returns.) 

'■^Discharges, before the expiration of the term, 4391 ; of which, 
3966 were for disability. 

''Deaths, 2111; ordinary, 1633; killed in battle, and died of 
Avounds, 423 ; accidental, 55. 

" Desertions, 568. 

" Volunteers for the war. There are now 31 regiments (or equal 
to as many) and 4 companies in service — the aggregate strength 
of wliich, when mustered under calls from the war department, 
respectively dated June 26, 1846, (1 regiment,) November 16, 1846, 



284 APPENDIX. 

(equal to 8 regiments and 5 companies,) April 19, 1847 (equal to 
7 regiments and two companies,) August 26, 1847, (5 regiments,) 
October 8, 1847, (2 regiments,) and at various other dates, (equal to 
7 regiments and 7 companies,) was 31,914, being 2626 less than if 
all the regiments and companies had been full, as authorized by- 
law. Strength at the last returns — officers, 1357 ; men, 22,968 ; 
aggregate, 24,325 ; reduced, by this date, probably, to less tlian 
20,000. 

" Discharges, 1339 ; of wliich, 1084 were for disahilitij. 

''Deaths, 1691, to wit: ordinary, 1481; killed in battle, and 
died of wounds, 171 ; accidental, 39. 

''Desertions, 1770. 

" The casualties incident to the whole number of volunteers, un- 
der various periods of service, so far as can be ascertained from 
the rolls received, are as follows, viz. : 

" Discharges, before the expiration of the term, 6638 ; of which, 
5423 were for disability. 

" Deaths, 3947, to wit ; ordinary, 3229 ; killed in battle, 47 offi- 
cers and 419 men ; died of wounds, 164, officers and men, as far as 
now ascertained ; accidental, 108. 

" Wounded, 129 officers, 1217 men. 

" Resignations, 275. 

" Desertions, 2884. 

" Table E of the report, presents a detailed statement of the 
volunteers on the rolls for service in Mexico, New Mexico, and Cali- 
fornia, including eleven companies (1082) within the United States, 
according to the latest returns, to wit : 5527 horse, 297 artillery, 
20,518 infantry — making a total of 24,886 men, and 1456 com- 
missioned officers — aggregate, 26,342 ; of which, 2017 are twelve 
months' volunteers. This view includes absent men recruited under 
the law of 1847, many of whom will never join ; and, as is already 
remarked, it is believed that the actual strength of regiments and 
companies in the field does not exceed 20,000 men, including a 
numerous invalid list. The forces called out by regiments, and 
separate or independent companies, and now in service, equal 33 
regiments and 1 battalion, and require not less than 15,000 men to 
complete the establishment. 

" General and staff officers provided for the volunteer troops. — The 
number of general and staff officers appointed for tlie volunteer 
forces, under the acts of July 5, 1838, June 18 and June 26, 1846, 



APPENDIX. 285 

is 289 ; of which number, 11 are generals, 26 majors, 104 captains, 
124 surgeons and assistant surgeons, and 24 additional paymasters. 
Thirty-seven of the persons appointed declined acceptance, 47 were 
discharged as supernumeraries, 44 resigned, 18 appointed in other 
corps, 15 died, and 128 are now in service." 



JUSTICE OF THE WAE BETWEEN ENGLAND AND CHINA. 

In closing his lecture upon the war between England and China, 
John Quincy Adams says, — 

" And here we might pause, my brethren of the Massachusetts 
Historical Society. Do I hear you inquire. What is all this to the 
Opium question, or the taking of Canton ? These, I answer, are 
but incidents in that movement of mind on this globe of earth, of 
which the war betAveen Great Britain and China is now the leading 
star. Of the four questions which I have proposed this evening to 
discuss, we have not even reached the conclusion of the first — the 
justice of the cause between the two parties. Which has the righteous 
cause ? You have, perhaps, been surprised to hear me answer, Britain 
— Britain has the righteous cause. But to prove it I have been 
obliged to show tliat the opium question is not tlie cause of tlie war ; 
my demonstration is not yet complete. The cause of the war is 
the Ko-tou ! — the arrogant and insupportable pretensions of China, 
that she will hold commercial intercourse with the rest of mankind, 
not upon terms of equal reciprocity, but upon the insulting and 
degrading forms of the relation between lord and vassal. The 
melancholy catastrophe with which I am obliged to close, the death 
of tlie gallant Napier, was the first bitter fi*uit of the struggle against 
that insulting and senseless pretension of China. Might I, in the 
flight of time, be permitted again to address you, I should pursue 
the course of tlie inquiry, through the four questions with which I 
have begun. But the solution of them all is involved in the germi- 
nating element of the first, the justice of the cause. This I have 
sought in the natural rights of man. Whether it may ever be my 
good fortune to address you again, is in the disposal of a higher 
power ; but with reference to the last of my four questions. What are 



286 APPENDIX. 

the duties of the government and the people of the United States, 
resulting from the existing war between Great Britain and China ? 
— I leave to your meditations the last event of that war, which the 
winds have brought to our ears — the ransom of Canton. When 
we remember the scornful repulse from the gates of Canton in July, 
1834, of Mr. Astell, bearing the letter of peace and friendship from 
Lord Napier to the governor of the two provinces, and the contempt- 
uous refusal to receive the letter itself, and compare it with the 
ransom of that same city in June, 1841, we trace the whole line of 
connection between cause and effect — may we not draw from it a 
monitory lesson, written upon a beam of phosphoric light — of pre- 
paration for ivar, and preservation of peace.^'' 



A A. 

TREATY 



Of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Scttlemejit between the United States 
of America and the Mexican Republic. Dated at Guadalupe Hidalgo, 
February 2, 1848 ; ratified by the President of the United States, March 
16, 1848 ; exchanged at Queretaro, May 30, 1818 ; 2>^oclaimed by the 
President of the United States, July 4, 1848. 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

A PROCLAMATION. 

" Whereas, a treaty of peace, friendship, limits, and settlement 
between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, 
was concluded and signed at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on 
the second day of February, one thousand eight hundred and 
forty-eight, which treaty, as amended by the Senate of the United 
States, and, being in the English and Spanish languages, is word 
for word as follows : — 
" In the name of Almighty God : 

" The United States of America and the United Mexican States, 
animated by a sincere desire to put an end to tlie calamities of the 
war which unhappily exists between the two republics, and to 
establish upon a solid basis relations of peace and friendship, which 



APPENDIX. 287 

shall confer reciprocal benefits upon the citizens of both, and assure 
the concord, harmony, and mutual confidence wherein the two 
people should live, as good neighbors, have for that purpose 
appointed their respective plenipotentiaries, that is to say, the 
President of the United States lias appointed Nicholas P. Trist, a 
citizen of the United States, and the President of the Mexican 
Republic has appointed Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas, Don Bernardo 
Couto, and Don Miguel Atristain, citizens of the said Republic, who, 
after a reciprocal communication of their respective full powers, 
have, under the protection of Almighty God, the author of peace, 
arranged, agreed upon, and signed the following 

*' Treaty of Peace^ Friendship, Limits, and Settlement, between the United 
States of America and the Mexican liepublic. 

" Art. I. There shall be firm and universal peace between the 
United States of America and the Mexican republic, and between 
their respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, 
without exception of places or persons. 

" Art. II. Immediately upon the signature of this treaty, a con- 
vention shall be entered into between a commissioner or commis- 
sioners appointed by the general-in-chief of the forces of the United 
States, and such as may be appointed by the Mexican government, 
to the end that a provisional suspension of hostilities shall take 
place, and that, in the places occupied by the said forces, constitu- 
tional order may be reestablished, as regards the political, adminis- 
trative, and judicial branches, so far as this shall be permitted by the 
circumstances of military occupation. 

" Art. III. Immediately upon the ratification of the present 
treaty by the government of the United States, orders shall be 
transmitted to the commanders of their land and naval forces, 
requiring the latter (provided this treaty shall then have been ratified 
by the government of the Mexican republic, and the ratifications 
exchanged) immediately to desist from blockading any Mexican 
ports ; and requiring the former (under the same condition) to com- 
mence, at the earliest moment practicable, withdrawing all troops 
of the United States then in the interior of the Mexican republic, 
to the points that shall be selected by common agreement, at a 
distance from the seaports not exceeding thirty leagues ; and such 



288 APPENDIX. 

evacuation of the interior of the republic shall be completed with 
the least possible delay ; the Mexican government hereby binding 
itself to afford every facility in its power for rendering the same 
convenient to the troops, on their march and in their new positions, 
and for promoting a good understanding between them and the 
inhabitants. In like manner, orders shall be despatched to the 
persons in charge of the custom-houses at all ports occupied by the 
forces of the United States, requiring them (under the same con- 
dition) immediately to deliver possession of the same to the persons 
authorized by the Mexican government to receive it, together with 
all bonds and evidences of debts for duties on importations and on 
exportations, not yet fallen due. Moreover, a faithful and exact 
account shall be made out, showing the entire amount of all duties 
on imports and on exports, collected at such custom-houses, or 
elsewhere in Mexico, by authority of the United States, from and 
after tlie day of the ratification of this treaty by the governm^ent of 
the Mexican republic ; and also on account of the cost of collection ; 
and such entire amount, deducting only the cost of collection, shall 
be delivered to the Mexican government, at the city of Mexico, 
within three months after the exchange of the ratifications. 

" The evacuation of the capital of the Mexican republic by the 
troops of the United States, in virtue of the above stipulations, 
shall be completed in one month after the orders there stipulated for 
shall have been received by tlie commander of said troops, or sooner 
if possible. 

"Art. IV. Immediately after the exchange of ratifications of 
the present ti-eaty, all castles, forts, territories, places, and posses- 
sions which have been taken or occupied by the forces of the United 
States during the present war, within the limits of the Mexican 
republic, as about to established by the following article, shall be 
definitively restored to the said republic, together with all the artil- 
lery, arms, apparatus of war, munitions, and other public property, 
which were in the said castles and forts when captured, and which 
shall remain there at the time when this treaty shall be duly ratified 
by the government of the Mexican republic. To this end, immedi- 
ately upon the signature of this treaty, orders shall be despatched 
to the American officers commanding such castles and forts, secur- 
ing against the removal or destruction of any such artillery, arms, 
apparatus of war, munitions, or other public property. The city of 
Mexico, within the inner line of intrenchments surrounding the 



APPENDIX. 289 

said city, is comprehended in the above stipulations, as regards the 
restoration of artillery, apparatus of war, &c. 

"The final evacuation of the territory of the Mexican republic, by 
the forces of the United States, shall be completed in three months 
from the said exchange of ratifications, or sooner if possible ; the 
Mexican government hereby engaging, as in the foregoing article, 
to use all means in its power for facilitating such evacuation, and 
rendering it convenient to the troops, and for promoting a good 
understanding between them and the inhabitants. 

" If, however, the ratification of this treaty by both parties should 
not take place in time to allow the embarkation of the troops of the 
United States to be completed before the commencement of the 
sickly season at the Mexican ports on the Gulf of Mexico, in such 
case a fi-iendly arrangement sliall be entered into betAveen the gen- 
eral-in-chief of the said troops and the Mexican government, 
whereby healthy and otherwise suitable places, at a distance from 
the ports not exceeding thirty leagues, shall be designated for the 
residence of such troops as may not yet have embarked, until the 
return of the healthy season. And the space of time here referred 
to as comprehending the sickly season, shall be understood to 
extend fi-om the first day of May to the first day of November. 

"All prisoners of war taken on either side, on land or on sea, shall 
be restored as soon as practicable afi:er the exchange of ratifications 
of this treaty. It is also agreed that if any Mexicans should now 
be held as captives by any savage tribe within the Ihnits of the 
United States, as about to be established by the following article, the 
government of the United States will exact the release of such cap- 
tives, and cause them to be restored to their country. 

"Art. V. The boundary line between the two republics shall 
commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, oppo- 
site the mouth of the Rio Grande, otherwise called Rio Bravo del 
Norte, or opposite the mouth of its deepest branch, if it should 
have more than one branch emptying directly into the sea ; from 
thence up the middle of that river, following the deepest channel? 
where it has more than one, to the point where it strikes the south- 
ern boundary of New Mexico, ; thence, westwardly, along the whole 
southern boundary of New Mexico, (which runs north of the town 
called Paso,) to its western termination ; thence, northward, along the 
western line of New Mexico, until it intersects the first branch of 
the River Gila; (or if it should not intersect any branch of that river, 
25 



290 APPENDIX. 

then to the point on the said line nearest to such branch, and thence 
in a direct line to the same ;) tlience down the middle of the said 
branch and of the said river, until it empties into the Rio Colorado ; 
thence across the Rio Colorado, folloAving the division line between 
Upper and Lower California, to the Pacific ocean. 

" The soutliern and western limits of New Mexico, mentioned in 
this article, are those laid down in the map entitled, ' Map of the 
United Mexican States, as organized and defined by various acts of the 
Congress of said republic, and constructed according to the best author- 
ities. Revised edition. Published at Afew York, in 1847, by J. Distur- 
TidV Of which map a copy is added to this treaty, bearing the 
signatures and seals of tlie undersigned plenipotentiaries. And, 
in order to preclude all difficulty in tracing upon the ground the 
limit separating Upper from Lower California, it is agreed that the 
said limit shall consist of a straight line drawn from the middle of 
the Rio Gila, where it unites with the Colorado, to a point on the 
coast of the Pacific ocean, distant one marine league due south of 
the southernmost point of the port of San Diego, according to the 
plan of said port, made in the year 1782, by Don Juan Pantoja, 
second sailing-master of the Spanish fleet and published at Madrid. 
in the year 1802, in the atlas to the voyage of the schooners Sutil 
and Mexicana, of which plan a copy is hereunto added, signed 
and sealed by the respective plenipotentiaries. 

" In order to designate the boundary line with due precision, upon 
authoritative maps, and to establish upon tlie gTound landmarks which 
shall show the limits of both republics, as described in the present 
article, the two governments shall each appoint a commissioner and 
a surveyor, who, before the expiration of one year from tlie date of 
the exchange of ratifications of this treaty, shall meet at the port 
of San Diego, and proceed to run and mark the said boundary in 
its whole course to the mouth of the Rio Bravo del Norte. They 
shall keep journals and make out plans of their operations, and the 
result agreed upon by them shall be deemed a part of this treaty, 
and shall have the same force as if it were inserted therein. The 
two governments will amicably agree regarding what may be 
necessary to these persons, and also as to their respective escorts, 
should such be necessary. 

" The boundary line established by tiiis article shall be religiously 
respected by each of the two republics, and no change shall ever 
be made therein, except by the express and free consent of both 
nations, lawfully given by the general government of each, in con- 
formity with its own constitution. 



APPENDIX. 291 

" Art. yi. The vessels and citizens of the United States shall, 
in all time, have a free and uninterrupted passage by the Galf of 
California, and by the River Colorado below its confluence with the 
Gila, to and from their possessions situated north of the boundary 
line defined in the preceding article ; it being understood that this 
passage is to be by navigating the Gulf of California and the River 
Colorado, and not by land, witliout the express consemt of the Mex- 
ican government. 

" If, by the examinations which may be made, it should be ascer- 
tained to be practicable and advantageous to construct a road, canal, 
or railway, which should in whole or in part, run upon the River Gila, 
or upon its right or its left bank, within the space of one marine 
league fi'om either margin of the river, the governments of both repub- 
lics will form an agreement regarding its construction, in order that 
it may serve equally for the use and advantage of botli countries. 

" Art. VII. The River Gila, and the part of the Rio Bravo del 
Norte, lying below the southern boundary of New Mexico, being, 
agreeably to the fifth article, divided in the middle between the two 
republics, the navigation of the Gila and of the Bravo below said 
boundary, shall be free and common to the vessels and citizens of 
both countries ; and neither shall, without the consent of the other, 
construct any work that may impede or interrupt, in whole or in 
part, the exercise of this right ; not even for the purpose of favoring 
neAv methods of navigation. Nor shall any tax or contribution, 
under any denomination or title, be levied upon vessels or per- 
sons navigating the same, or upon merchandise or effects transport- 
ed thereon, except in the case of landing upon one of their shores. 
If, for the purpose of making said rivers navigable, or for maintain- 
ing them in such a state, it should be necessary or advantageous to 
establish any tax or contribution, this shall not be done without the 
consent of both governments. 

"The stipulations contained in the present article shall not 
impair the territorial rights of either republic within its established 
limits. 

" Art. VIII. Mexicans now established in territories previously 
belonging to Mexico, and which remain for the fliture within the 
limits of the United States, as defined by the present treaty, shall 
be free to continue where they now reside, or to remove at any 



292 APPENDIX. 

time to the Mexican republic, retaining the property which they 
possess in the said territories, or disposing thereof, and removing 
the proceeds wherever they please, without their being subjected, 
on this account, to any contribution, tax, or charge whatever. 

" Those who shall prefer to remain in the said territories, may 
either retain the title and rights of Mexican citizens, or acquire those 
of citizens of the United States. But they shall be under the obli- 
gation to make their election within one year from the date of the 
exchange of ratifications of this treaty ; and those who shall remain 
in the said territories after the expiration of that year, without 
having declared their intention to retain the character of Mexicans, 
shall be considered to have elected to become citizens of the Uni- 
ted States. 

" In the said territories, property of every kind, now belonging 
to Mexicans not established there, shall be inviolably respected. 
The present owners, the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may 
hereafter acquire said property by contract, shall enjoy with respect 
to it guaranties equally ample as if the same belonged to citizens 
of the United States. 

" Art. IX. The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid, shall 
not preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican republic, con- 
formably with what is stipulated in the preceding article, shall be 
incorporated into the Union of the United States, and be admitted 
at the proper time (to be judged of by the Congress of the United 
States) to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United 
States, according to the principles of the constitution ; and in the 
mean time shall be maintained and protected in tlie free enjoyment 
of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of 
their religion without restriction. 

" Art. X. [Stricken out.] 

" Art. XI. Considering that a great part of the territories, which, 
by the present treaty, are to be comprehended for the future within 
the limits of the United States, is now occupied by savage tribes, 
who will hereafter be under the exclusive control of the govern- 
ment of the United States, and whose incursions within the terri- 
tory of Mexico, would be prejudicial in the extreme, it is solemnly 
agreed that all such incursions shall be forcibly restrained by the 



APPENDIX. 293 

government of the United States, whensoever this may be necessa- 
ry ; and that when they cannot be prevented, they shall be punished 
by the said government, and satisfaction for the same shall be 
exacted — all in the same way, and with equal diligence and ener- 
gy, as if the same incursions were meditated or committed within 
its own territory, against its own citizens. 

"It shall not be lawful, under any pretext whatever, for any 
inhabitant of the United States to purchase or acquire any Mexi- 
can, or any foreigner residing in Mexico, who may have been cap- 
tured by Indians inhabiting the territory of either of the two repub- 
lics, nor to purchase or acquire horses, mules, cattle, or property of 
any kind, stolen within Mexican territory by such Indians. 

" And in the event of any person or persons, captured within 
Mexican territory by Indians, being carried into the territory of tlie 
United States, the government of the latter engages and binds itself 
in the most solemn manner, so soon as it shall know of such cap- 
tives being within its territory, and shall be able so to do, through 
the faithful exercise of its influence and power, to rescue them and 
return them to their country, or deliver them to the agent or repre- 
sentative of the Mexican government. The Mexican authorities 
will, as far as practicable, give to the government of the United 
States notice of such captures ; and its agent shall pay the expenses 
incurred in the maintenance and transmission of the rescued cap- 
tives ; who, in the mean time, shall be treated with the utmost hos- 
pitality by the American authorities at tlie place where they may 
be. But if the government of the United States, before receiving 
such notice from Mexico, should obtain intelligence, tlirough any 
other channel, of the existence of Mexican captives within its terri- 
tory, it will proceed forthwith to effect their release and delivery to 
the Mexican agent as above stipulated. 

" For the purpose of giving to these stipulations the fullest possi- 
ble efficacy, thereby affording the security and redress demanded 
by their true spirit and intent, the government of the United States 
will now and hereafter pass, Avithout unnecessary delay, and always 
vigilantly enforce, such laws as the nature of the subject may 
require. And finally, the sacredness of this obligation shall never 
be lost sight of by the said government, when providing for the 
removal of the Indians from any portion of the said territories, or for 
its being settled by citizens of the United States ; but, on the con- 
trary, special care shall be taken not to place its Indian occupants 
25* 



294 APPENDIX. 

under the necessity of seeking new homes, by committing those 
invasions which the United States have solemnly obliged them- 
selves to restrain. 

" Art. XII. In consideration of the extension acquired by the 
boundaries of the United States, as defined in the fifth article of the 
present treaty, the government of the United States engages to 
pay to that of the Mexican republic, the sum of fifteen millions of 
dollars. 

" Immediately after this treaty shall have been duly ratified by 
the government of the Mexican republic, the sum of three millions 
of dollars shall be paid to the said government by tliat of tlie Uni- 
ted States, at the city of Mexico, in the gold or silver coin of Mex- 
ico. The remaining twelve millions of dollars shall be paid at the 
same place, and in the same coin, in annual instalments of tln-ee 
millions of dollars each, together with interest on the same at the 
rate of six per centum per annum. This interest shall begin to run 
upon the whole sum of twelve millions from the day of the ratifica- 
tion of the present treaty by the Mexican government, and the first 
of the instalments shall be paid at the expiration of one year from 
the same day. Together with each annual instalment, as it falls 
due, the whole interest accruing on such instalment from the begin- 
ning shall also be paid. 

" Art. XIII. The United States engage, moreover, to assume and 
pay to the claimants all the amounts now due them, and those here- 
after to become due, by reason of the claims already liquidated and 
decided against the Mexican republic, under the conventions 
between the two republics severally concluded on the eleventli 
day of April, eighteen hundred and thirty-nine, and on the thirtieth 
day of January, eighteen hundred and forty-three ; so that the Mex- 
ican republic shall be absolutely exempt, for the future, from all 
expense whatever on account of the said claims. 

" Art. XIV. The United States do fiirthermore discharge the 
Mexican republic fi*om all claims of citizens of the United States, not 
heretofore decided against the Mexican government, which may 
have arisen previously to the date of the signature of this treaty ; 
which discharge shall be final and perpetual, whether the said 
claims be rejected or be allowed by the board of commissioners pro- 



APPENDIX. 295 

vided for in the following article, and whatever shall be the total 
amount of those allowed. 

" Art. XV. The United States, exhonerating Mexico from all 
demands on account of the claims of their citizens mentioned in the 
preceding article, and considering them entirely and forever can- 
celled, whatever their amount may be, undertake to make satisfaction 
for the same, to an amount not exceeding three and one quarter 
millions of dollars. To ascertain the validity and amount of those 
claims, a board of commissioners shall be established by the govern- 
ment of the United States, whose awards shall be final and con- 
clusive ; provided, that, in deciding upon the validity of each claim, 
the board shall be guided and governed by the principles and rules 
of decision prescribed by the first and fifth articles of the unrati- 
fied convention, concluded at the city of Mexico on the twentieth 
day of November, one thousand eight hundred and forty-three, and 
in no case shall an award be made in favor of any claim not em- 
braced by these principles and rules. 

" If, in the opinion of the said board of commissioners, or of the 
claimants, any books, records, or documents in the possession or 
power of the government of the Mexican republic, shall be deemed 
necessary to the just decision of any claim, the commissioners, or 
the claimants through them, shall, within such period as Con- 
gress may designate, make an application in writing for the 
same, addressed to the Mexican minister for foreign affairs, to 
be transmitted by the secretary of state of the United States; 
and the Mexican government engages, at the earliest possi- 
ble moment after the receipt of such demand, to cause any of the 
books, records, or documents, so specified, which shall be in their 
possession or power, (or authenticated copies or extracts of the 
same,) to be transmitted to the said secretary of state, who shall 
immediately deliver them over to the said board of commissioners : 
Provided, That no such application shall be made by, or at the 
instance of any claimant, until the facts, which it is expected to 
prove by such books, records, or documents, shall have been 
stated under oath or affirmation. 

" Art. XVI. Each of the contracting parties reserves to itself 
the entire right to fortify whatever point within its territory it may 
judge proper so to fortify, for its security. 



296 APPET\'DIX. 

" Art. XVII. The treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, 
concluded at the city Mexico on tlie fifth day of April, A. D. 
1831, between the United States of America and the United 
Mexican States, except the additional article, and except so far 
as the stipulations of the said treaty may be incompatible with any 
stipulation contained in the present treaty, is hereby revived for the 
period of eig-ht years from the day of the exchange of ratifications of 
this treaty, with the same force and virtue as if incorporated therein ; 
it being understood that each of the contracting parties reserves to 
itself the right, at any time after the said period of eight years shall 
have expired, to terminate the same by giving one year's notice of 
such intention to the other party. 

" Art. XVIII. All supplies whatever for troops of the United 
States in Mexico, amving at ports in the occupation of such troops 
previous to the final evacuation thereof, although subsequently to 
the restoration of the custom-houses at such ports, shall be entirely 
exempt from duties and charges of any kind ; the government of tlie 
United States hereby engaging and pledging its faith to establish, 
and vigilantly to enforce, all possible guards for securing the reve- 
nue of Mexico, by preventing the importation, under cover of this 
stipulation, of any articles other than such, both in kind and in 
quantity, as shall really be wanted for the use and consumption of tlie 
forces of the United States during tlie time they may remain in Mex- 
ico. To this end, it shall be the duty of all officers and agents of the 
United States to denounce to tlie Mexican authorities at the respec- 
tive ports any attempt at a fraudulent abuse of this stipulation which 
they may know of, or may have reason to suspect, and to give to 
such authorities all the aid in their power witli regard thereto ; and 
every such attempt, when duly proved and established by sentence 
of a competent tribunal, shall be punished by the confiscation of 
the property so attempted to be fraudulently introduced. 

" Art. XIX. With respect to all merchandise, effects and prop- 
erty whatsoever, imported into ports of Mexico whilst in the occu- 
pation of the forces of the United States, whether by citizens of 
either republic, or by citizens or subjects of any neutral nation, the 
following rules shall be observed : — 

" 1. All such merchandise, eflTects, and property, if imported 
previously to the restoration of the custom-liouses to the Mexican 



APPENDIX. 297 

authorities, as stipulated for in the third article of this treaty, shall 
be exempt from confiscation, although the importation of the same 
be prohibited by the Mexican tariff. 

"2. The same perfect exemption shall be enjoyed by all such 
merchandise, effects, and property, miported subsequently to the 
restoration of the custom-houses, and previously to the sixty days 
fixed in the following article for the coming into force of the Mexican 
tariff at such ports respectively; the said merchandise, effects, and 
property being, however, at the time of their importation, subject 
to tlie payment of duties, as provided for in the said following 
article. 

" 3. All merchandise, effects, and property described in the two 
rules foregoing shall, during their continuance at the place of 
importation, and upon their leaving such place for tlie interior, be 
exempt from all duty, tax, or impost of every kind, under whatsoever 
title or denomination. Nor shall they be there subjected to any 
charge whatsoever upon the sale thereof 

"4. All merchandise, effects, and property, described in the first 
and second rules, which shall have been removed to any place in 
the interior Avhilst such place was in the occupation of the forces of 
the United States, shall, during their continuance therein, be exempt 
from all tax upon the sale or consumption thereof, and from every 
kind of impost or contribution, under whatsoever title or denomi- 
nation. 

"5. But if any merchandise, effects, or property, described in 
the first and second rules, shall be removed to any place not occu- 
pied at the time by tlie forces of the United States, they shall, upon 
their introduction into such place, or upon their sale or consumption 
there, be subject to the same duties which, under the Mexican laws, 
they would be required to pay in such cases if they had been 
imported in time of peace, through the maritime custom-houses, 
and had there paid the duties conformably with the Mexican 
tariff. 

" 6. The owner of all merchandise, effects, or property described 
in the first and second rules, and existing in any port of Mexico, 
shall have the right to reship the same, exempt from all tax, impost, 
or contribution whatever. 

" With respect to the metals, or other property, exported from any 
Mexican port whilst in tlie occupation of the forces of the United 
States, and previously to the restoration of the custom-house at such 



298 APPENDIX. 

port, no person shall be required by the Mexican authorities, whether 
general or State, to pay any tax, duty, or contribution upon any such 
exportation, or in any manner to account for the same to the said 
authorities. 

" Art. XX. Tlirough consideration for the interests of commerce 
generally, it is agreed, that if less than sixty days should elapse 
between the date of the signature of this treaty and the restoration 
of the custom-houses, conformably with the stipulation in the third 
article, in such case all merchandise, effects, and property what- 
soever, arriving at the Mexican ports after the restoration of the 
said custom-houses, and previously to the expiration of sixty days 
after the day of the signature of this treaty, shall be admitted to 
entry ; and no other duties shall be levied thereon than the duties 
established by the tariff found in force at such custom-houses at 
the time of tlie restoration of the same. And to all such merchan- 
dise, effects, and property, the rules established by the preceding 
article shall apply. 

"Art. XXI. If unhappily any disagreement should hereafter 
arise between the govermnents of tlie two republics, whether with 
respect to the interpretation of any stipulation in this treaty, or 
with respect to any other particular concerning tlie political or com- 
mercial relations of the two nations, the said government, in the 
name of those nations, do promise to each other that they will 
endeavor, in the most sincere and earnest manner, to settle the 
differences so arising, and to preserve the state of peace and friend- 
ship in which the two countries are now placing themselves ; using, 
for this end, mutual representations and pacific negotiations. And 
if, by these means, they should not be enabled to come to an agree- 
ment, a resort shall not, on this account, be had to reprisals, aggres- 
sion, or hostility of any kind, by the one republic against the other, 
until tlie government of that which deems itself aggrieved shall 
have maturely considered, in the spkit of peace and good neigh- 
borship, whether it would not be better that such difference should 
be settled by the arbitration of commissioners appointed on each 
side, or by that of a friendly nation. And should such course be 
proposed by either party, it shall be acceded to by the other, unless 
deemed by it altogether incompatible with the nature of the differ- 
ence, or the circumstances of the case. 



mM 



APPENDIX. 299 

" Art. XXII. If (which is not to be expected, and which God 
forbid!) war should unhappily break out between the two republics, 
they do now, with a view to such calamity, solemnly pledge them- 
selves to each other and to the world, to observe the following rules : 
absolutely where the nature of the subject permits, and as closely 
as possible in all cases where such absolute observance shall be 
impossible : — 

" 1. The merchants of either republic then residing in the other 
shall be allowed to remain twelve months, (for those dwelling in the 
interior,) and six months, (for those dwelling at the seaports,) to 
collect their debts and settle their affairs, during which periods they 
shall enjoy the same protection, and be on the same footing, in all 
respects, as the citizens or subjects of the most friendly nations ; and 
at the expiration thereof, or any time before, they shall have full 
liberty to depart, carrying off all their effects without molestation 
or hinderance; conforming therein to the same laws which the 
citizens or subjects of the most friendly nations are required to con- 
form to. Upon the entrance of the armies of either nation into the 
teiTitories of the other, women and children, ecclesiastics, scholars 
of every faculty, cultivators of the earth, merchants, artisans, manu- 
facturers, and fishermen, unarmed and inhabiting unfortified towns, 
villages, or places, and in general all persons whose occupations are 
for the common subsistence and benefit of mankind, shall be allowed 
to continue their respective employments unmolested in their per- 
sons. Nor shall their houses or goods be burnt or otherwise 
destroyed, nor their cattle taken, nor their fields wasted, by the 
armed force into whose power, by the events of war, they may 
happen to fall ; but if the necessity arise to take, any thing from 
them for the use of such armed force, the same shall be paid for at 
an equitable price. All churches^ hospitals, schools, colleges, libra- 
ries, and other establishments for charitable and beneficent purposes, 
shall be respected, and all persons connected with the same pro- 
tected in the discharge of their duties, and the pursuit of their 
vocations. 

" 2. In order that the fate of prisoners of war may be alleviated, 
all such practices as those of sending them into distant, inclement, 
or unwholesome districts, or crowding them into close and noxious 
places, shall be studiously avoided. They shall not be confined in 
dungeons, prison-ships, or prisons ; nor be put in irons, or bound, or 
otherwise restrained in the use of their limbs. The officers shall 



300 .APPENDIX. 

enjoy liberty on their paroles, within convenient districts, and have 
comfortable quarters ; and the common soldiers shall be disposed in 
cantonments, open and extensive enough for air and exercise, and 
lodged in barracks as roomy and good as are provided by the party 
in whose power they are for its own troops. But if any officer shall 
break his parole by leaving the district so assigned him, or any other 
prisoner shall escape from the limits of his cantonment, after they 
shall have been designated to him, such individual, officer, or other 
prisoner, shall forfeit so much of the benefit of this article as pro- 
vides for his liberty on parole or in cantonment. And if any officer 
so breaking his parole, or any common soldier so escaping from the 
limits assigned him, shall afterwards be found in arms, previously to 
his being regularly exchanged, the person so oiFending shall be 
dealt with according to the established laws of war. The officers 
shall be daily furnished by the party in whose power they are with 
as many rations, and of the same articles, as are allowed, either in 
kind or by commutation, to officers of equal rank in its own army ; 
and all others shall be daily furnished with such ration as is allowed 
to a common soldier in its own service : the value of all which sup- 
plies shall, at the close of the war, or at periods to be agreed upon 
between the respective commanders, be paid by the other party, on 
a mutual adjustment of accounts for subsistence of prisoners ; and 
such accounts shall not be mingled with or set off against any 
others, nor the balance due on them be withheld, as a compensation 
or reprisal for any cause whatever, real or pretended. Each party 
shall be allowed to keep a commissary of prisoners, appointed by 
itself, with every cantonment of prisoners, in possession of the 
other; which commissary shall see the prisoners as often as he 
pleases ; shall be allowed to receive, exempt from all duties or taxes, 
and to distribute, whatever comforts may be sent to them by their 
friends ; and shall be free to transmit his reports in open letters to 
the party by whom he is employed. 

'^ And it is declared that neither the pretence that war dissolves 
all treaties, nor any other whatever, sliall be considered as annulling 
or suspending the solemn covenant contained in this article. On 
the contrary, the state of war is precisely that for which it is pro- 
vided ; and during which, its stipulations are to be as sacredly 
observed as the most acknowledged obligations under the law of 
nature or nations. 



APPENDIX. 301 

" Art. XXIII. This treaty shall be ratified by the president of 
the United States of America, by and with tlie advice and consent 
of the Senate thereof; and by the president of the Mexican 
republic, with the previous approbation of its General Congress ; 
and the ratifications shall be exchanged in the city of Washington, 
or at-tlie seat of government of Mexico, in four months from the 
date of the signature hereof, or sooner, if practicable. 

"In faith whereof, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have 
signed this treaty of peace,, friendship, limits, and settlement ; and 
have hereunto affixed our seals respectively. Done in quintuplicate, 
at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on the second day of February, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight. 

««N. P. TRIST, [l. s.] 

"LUIS G. CUEVAS, [l. s.] 

"BERNARDO COUTO, [l. s.] 
"MIGL. ATRISTAIN, [l. s.] 

" And whereas the said treaty, as amended, has been duly ratified 
on both parts, and the respective ratifications of the same Avere 
exchanged at Quer^taro on the thirtieth day of May last, by Ambrose 
H. Sevier and Nathan Cliiford, commissioners on the part of the 
government of the United States, and by Seiior Don Louis de la 
Rosa, minister of relations of the Mexican republic, on the part of 
that government. 

"Now, therefore, be it known, that I, James K. Polk, presi- 
dent of the United States of America, have caused the said treaty 
to be made, public, to the end that the same, and every clause and 
article thereof, may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the 
United States and the citizens thereof 

" In witness whereot^ I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the 
seal of the United States to be affixed. 

" Done at the city of Washington, this fourth day of 
[s. L.] July, one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, 

and of the independence of the United States the 
seventy-third. 

« JA^IES K. POLK. 
" By the President : 

" James Buchanan, Secretary of State" 
26 



302 APPENDIX. 



BB. 



The following is an extract from the message of President Polk, 
July 6, 1848, accompanying the treaty of peace : — 

" New Mexico and Upper California have been ceded by Mexico 
to the United States, and now constitute a part of our country. 
Embracing nearly ten degrees of latitude, lying adjacent to the 
Oregon Territory, and extending from the Pacific Ocean to the Rio 
Grande, a mean distance of nearly a thousand miles, it would be 
difficult to estimate the value of these possessions to the United 
States. They constitute of themselves a country large enough for 
a great empire, and their acquisition is second only in importance 
to that of Louisiana in 1803. Rich in mineral and agricultural 
resources, with a climate of great salubrity, they embrace the most 
important ports on the whole Pacific coast of the continent of North 
America. The possession of the ports of San Diego and Monterey 
and the Bay of San Francisco, will enable the United States to 
command the already valuable and rapidly increasing commerce of 
the Pacific. The number of our whale ships alone noAv employed 
in that sea exceeds seven hundred, requiring more than twenty 
thousand seamen to navigate them, while the capital invested in 
this particular branch of commerce is estimated at not less than 
forty millions of dollars. The excellent harbors of Upper Califor- 
nia will, under our flag, afford security and repose to our commer- 
cial marine, and American mechanics will soon furnish ready means 
of ship-building and repair, which are now so much wanted in that 
distant sea. 

" By the acquisition of these possessions, we are brought into 
immediate proximity with the west coast of America, from Cape 
Horn to the Russian possessions north of Oregon, with the islands 
of the Pacific Ocean, and by a direct voyage in steamers we will be 
in less than thirty days of Canton and other ports of China. 

" In this vast region, whose rich resources are soon to be devel- 
oped by American energy and enterprise, great must be the aug- 
mentation of our commerce, and with it new and profitable de- 
mands for mechanic labor in all its branches, and new and valuable 
markets for our manufactures and agricultural products." 



APPENDIX. 303 



cc. 



EXTRACT FROM THE LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE 
OF GENERAL CASS. 

We make the following extract for the purpose of affording a 
good example to all partisans : — 

"No party, gentlemen, had ever higher motives for exertion, 
than has the great democratic party of the United States. With 
an abiding confidence in the rectitude of our principles, with an 
unshaken reliance upon the energy and wisdom of public opinion, 
and witli the success which has crowned the administration of the 
government, when committed to its keeping, (and it has been so 
committed during more than three fourths of its existence,) what 
has been done is at once the reward of past exertion, and the mo- 
tive for future, and, at the same time, a guaranty for the accom- 
plishment of what we have to do. We cannot conceal from our- 
selves that there is a powerful party in the country, differing from 
us in regard to many of the fundamental principles of our govern- 
ment, and opposed to us in their practical application, Avhich will 
strive as zealously as we shall to secure the ascendency of their 
principles, by securing the election of their candidate in the com- 
ing contest. That party is composed of our fellow-citizens, as 
deeply interested in the prosperity of our common country as we 
can be, and seeking as earnestly as we are to promote and perpet- 
uate it. We shall soon present to the world the sublime spectacle 
of the election of a chief magistrste by twenty millions of people, 
without a single serious resistance to the laws, or the sacrifice of 
the life of one human being — and this, too, in the absence of all 
force but the moral force of our institutions ; and if we should add 
to all tliis, an example of mutual respect for the motives of the 
contending parties, so that the contest might be carried on with 
that firmness and energy which accompany deep conviction, and 
with as little personal asperity as political divisions permit, we 
should do more for the great cause of human freedom throughout 
the world, than by any other tribute we could render to its value. 

" We have a government founded by the will of all, responsible 
to the power of all, and administered for the good of all. The very 
first article in the democratic creed teaches that the people are 
competent to govern themselves ; it is, indeed, rather an axiom than 



304 



APPENDIX. 



an article of political faith. From the days of General Hamilton 
to our days, the party opposed to us, — of whose principles he was 
the great exponent, if not the founder, — while it has changed its 
name, has preserved essentially its identity of character ; and the 
doubt he entertained and taught of the capacity of man for self- 
government, has exerted a marked influence upon its action and 
opinions. Here is the very starting-point of the difference between 
the two great parties which divide our country. All other differ- 
ences are but subordinate and auxiliary to this, and may, in fact, be 
resolved into it. Looking with doubt upon the issue of self-govern- 
ment, one party is prone to think the public authority should be 
strengthened, and to fear any change, lest that change might weaken 
the necessary force of the government ; while tlie other, strong in 
its convictions of tlie intelligence and virtue of the people, believes 
that original power is safer than delegated, and that the solution of 
the great problem of good government consists in governing with 
the least force, and leaving individual action as free from restraint 
as is compatible with the preservation of the social system, thereby 
securing to each all the freedom which is not essential to the well- 
being of the whole. 

" As a party, we ought not to mistake the signs of the times ; 
but should bear in mind that this is an age of progress — of ad- 
vancement in all the elements of intellectual power, and in the 
opinions of the world. The general government should assume no 
powers. It should exercise none which have not been clearly 
granted by the parties to the federal compact. We ought to con- 
strue the Constitution strictly, according to the received and sound 
principles of the Jefferson school. But while rash experiments 
should be deprecated, if the government is stationary in its princi- 
ples of action, and refuses to accommodate its measures Avithin its 
constitutional sphere — cautiously, indeed, but Avisely and cheer- 
fully — to the advancing sentiments and necessities of the age, it 
will find its moral force impaired, and the public will determine to 
do what the public authority itself should readily do, when the in- 
dications of popular sentiment are clear and clearly expressed." 



APPENDIX. 305i 

DD. 

BALTIMORE CONVENTION. 

The following- are the resolutions of the convention of tlie dem- 
ocratic party, adopted at Baltimore in 1848 : — * 

" Resolved, That the American democracy place their trust in tlie 
intelligence, tlie patriotism, and the discriminating- justice of the 
American people. 

" Resolved, That we regard this as a distinctive feature of our 
political creed, which we are proud to maintain before the world, 
as the great moral element in a form of government springing from 
and upheld by the popular will ; and we contrast it with the creed 
and practice of^tleralism, under whatever name or form, which 
seeks to palsy the will of the constituent, and which conceives no 
imposture too monstrous for the popular credulity. 

^^ Resolved, therefore. That, entertaining these views, tlie demo- 
cratic party of this Union, through their delegates assembled in a 
general convention of the States, coming together in a spirit of con- 
cord, of devotion to the doctrines and faith of a free representative 
government, and appealing to their fellow-citizens for the rectitude 
i of their intentions, renew and re-assert, before the American peo- 

ple, the declarations of principles avowed by them when, on a former 
occasion, in general convention, they presented their candidates for 
the popular suifrages : — 

" 1. That the federal government is one of limited powers, de- 
rived solely from the Constitution, and the grants of power shown 
therein ought to be strictly construed by all the departments and 
agents of the government ; and that it is inexpedient and danger- 
ous to exercise doubtful constitutional powers. 

" 2. That the Constitution does not confer upon the genera,l gov- 
ernment the power to commence and carry on a general system of 
internal improvements. 

"3. That the Constitution does not confer authority upon the 
federal government, directly or indirectly, to assume the debts of 
the several States, contracted for local internal improvements, or 

* The resolutions adopted in 1844, and re-adopted in 1848, were written 
by the Hon. il. H. Gillet, the present able solicitor of the United States 

treasury. 

26* 



306 APPENDIX. 

Other State purposes ; nor would such assumption be just and ex- 
pedient. 

"4. That justice and sound policy forbid the federal government 
to foster one branch of industry to the detriment of another, or to 
cherish the interests of one portion to the injury of another portion 
of our common country ; that every citizen, and every section of 
the country, lias a right to demand and insist upon an equality of 
rights and privileges, and to complete and ample protection of per- 
sons and property from domestic violence or foreign aggression. 

"5. That it is the duty of every branch of the government to 
enforce and practise the most rigid economy in conducting our pub- 
lic affairs, and that no more revenue ought to be raised than is 
required to defray the necessary expenses of the government, and 
for the gradual but certain extinction of the dflit created by the 
prosecution of a just and necessary war, after peaceful relations 
shall have been restored. 

" 6. That Congress has no power to charter a national bank ; 
that we believe such an institution one of deadly hostility to the 
hest interests of the country, dangerous to our republican institu- 
tions and the liberties of the people, and calculated to place the 
business of the country within the control of a concentrated money 
power, and above the laws and the will of the pdople ; and that the 
result of democratic legislation, in this and all other financial mea.s- 
ures upon which issues have been made between the two political 
parties of the country, have demonstrated to candid and practical 
men of all parties, their soundness, safety, and utility in all busmess 
pursuits. 

"7. That Congress has no power under the Conscitution to inter- 
fere with or control the domestic institutions of the several States, 
and that such States are the sole and proper judges of every thing 
appertaining to their own affairs, not prohibited by the Constitution 5 
that all efforts of the abolitionists or others, made to induce Con- 
gress to interfere with the question of slavery, or to take incipient 
steps in relation thereto, are calculated to lead to the most alarming 
and dangerous consequences ; and that all such efforts have an 
inevitable tendency to diminish the happiness of the people, and 
endanger the stability and permanency of the Union, and ought not 
to be countenanced by any friend of our political institutions. 

" 8. That the separation of the moneys of the government from 
banking institutions is indispensable for the safety of the funds of 
the government and the rights of the people. 



APPENDIX. 307 

"9. That the liberal principles imbodied by Jefferson in the 
Declaration of Independence, and sanctioned in the Constitution, 
which makes ours the land of liberty, and the asylum of the op- 
pressed of every nation, have ever been cardinal principles in the 
democratic faith ; and every attempt to abridge the present privilege 
of becoming citizens and the owners of soil among us, ought to be 
resisted with the same spirit which swept the alien and sedition 
laws from our statute-books. 

'"'- Resolved, That the proceeds of the public lands ought to be 
sacredly applied to the national objects specified in the Constitution ; 
and that we are opposed to any law for the distribution of such 
proceeds among the States, as alike inexpedient in policy and re- 
pugnant to the Constitution. 

" Resolved, That we are decidedly opposed to taking from the 
president the qualified veto power, by which he is enabled, under 
restrictions and responsibilities, amply sufficient to guard the public 
interest, to suspend the passage of a bill whose merits cannot se- 
cure the approval of two thirds of the Senate and House of Repre- 
sentatives until the judgment of the people can be obtained thereon, 
and which has saved the American people from the corrupt and 
tyrannical dom.ination of the Bank of the United States, and from a 
corrupting system of general internal improvements. 

" Resolved, That the war with Mexico, provoked on her part by 
years of insult and injury, was commenced by her anny crossing 
the Rio Grande, attacking the American troops, and invading our 
sister state of Texas — and that upon all the principles of patriot- 
ism and the laws of nations, it is a just and necessary war on our 
part, in which every American citizen should have shown himself 
on the side of his country, and neither morally nor physically, by 
word or deed, have given ' aid and comfort to the enemy.' 

^^ Resolved, That we would be rejoiced at the assurances of a 
peace with Mexico, founded on the just principles of indemnity for 
the past and security for the future ; but that, while tlie ratification 
of the liberal treaty offered to Mexico remains in doubt, it is the 
duty of the country to sustain the administration in every measure 
necessary to provide for the vigorous prosecution of the war, should 
that treaty be rejected. 

" Resolved, That the officers and soldiers who have carried the 
arms of their country into Mexico, have crowned it with imperish- 
able glory. Their unconquerable courage, tlieir daring enterprise, 



308 APPExNDIX. 

their unfaltering perseverance and fortitude when assailed on all 
sides by innumerable foes, and that more formidable enemy — the 
diseases of the climate — exalt their devoted patriotism into the 
highest heroism, and give them a right to the profound gratitude of 
their country and the admiration of th^ world. 

" Resolved^ That the democratic national convention of the thuty 
States composing the American Republic, tender their fraternal con- 
gratulations to the National Convention of the Republic of France) 
now assembled as the free suffrage representatives of the sove- 
reignty of tliirty-iive millions of republicans, to establish govern- 
ments on tliose eternal principles of equal right, for which thdr 
LArAYETTE and our Washington fought, side by side, in the 
struggle for our own national independence ; and we would espe- 
cially convey to them, and the whole people of France, our earnest 
wishes for the consolidation of their liberties, through the wisdom 
that shall guide their councils, on the basis of a democratic con- 
stitution, not derived from the grants or concessions of kings or 
dynasties, but originating from tlie only true source of political 
power recognized in tlie States of this Union — tire inherent and in- 
alienable right of the people, in tlieir sovereign capacity, to make 
and to amend their fonns of govermnent in such manner as the 
v/elfare of the community may require. 

" Resolved, That in the recent development of this grand politi- 
cal truth, of the sovereignty of the people, and their capacity and 
power of self-government, which is prostrating thrones and erecting 
republics on the ruins of despotism in the Old World, we feel that a 
high and sacred duty is devolved with increased responsibility upon 
the democratic party of this country, as the party of the people, 
to sustain and advance among us constitutional liberty, equality, and 
fraternity, by continuing to resist all monopolies and exclusive 
legislation for the beneiit of the few at the expense of the many, 
and by a vigilant and constant adherence to tliose principles and 
compromises of the Constitution which are broad enough and strong 
enough to embrace and uphold the Union as it was, the Union as it 
is, and the Union as it shall be in the full expansion of the ener- 
gies and capacity of this great and progressive people. 

^^ Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded, through 
the American minister at Paris, to the National Convention of the 
republic of France. 

^^ Resolved, That tlie fruits of the great political triumph of 1844, 



APPENDIX. 309 

which elected James K. Polk and George M. Dallas president and 
vice-president of the United States, have fulfilled the hopes of the 
democracy of the Union ; in defeating the declared purposes of 
their opponents to create a national bank ; in preventing the corrupt 
and unconstitutional distribution of the land proceeds, from the 
common treasury of the Union, for local purposes ; in protecting 
the currency and the labor of the countiy from the ruinous fluctu- 
ations, and guarding the money of the people for the use of the 
people, by the establisliment of the constitutional treasury ; in the 
noble impulse given to the cause of free trade, by the repeal of 
tlie tariflf of 1842, and the creation of the more equal, honest, and 
productive tariff of 1846 ; and that, in our opinion, it would be a 
fatal error to weaken the bands of political organization by which 
these great reforms have been achieved — and risk tliem in the 
hands of their known adversaries, with whatever delusive appeals 
they may solicit our surrender of that vigilance which is the only 
safeguard of liberty. 

^^ Resolved, That the confidence of the democracy of the Union 
in the principles, capacity, firmness, and integrity of James K. Polk, 
manifested by his nomination and election in 1844, has been sig- 
nally justified by the strictness of his adherence to sound demo- 
cratic doctrines, by the purity of purpose, the energy and ability 
which have characterized his administration in all our affairs at 
home and abroad ; that we tender to hun our cordial congratula- 
tions upon the brilliant success which has hitherto crowned his 
patriotic efforts, and assure him, in advance, that at the expiration 
of his presidential term he will carry with him to his retirement 
the esteem, respect, and admiration of a grateful country. 

" Resolved, That this convention hereby present to the people of 
the United States Lewis Cass, of Michigan, as the candidate of 
the democratic party for the oflSce of president, and William O. 
Butler, of Kentucky, as the candidate of the democratic party 
for the office of vice-president of the United States." 



310 



APPENDIX. 



A Statement of the Receipts of the United States, 



From 












March 4, 
1789, to 


Customs. 


Internal reve- 
nue. 


Direct taxes. 


Postage. 


Public lands. 


Dec. 3L 












1791 


4,399 473 09 










1792 


3,443,070 85 
4,255,306 56 


' 208,942'81 
337,705 70 








1793 




"11,02051 

29,478 49 
22,400 
72 909 84 




1794 


4,801^065 28 
5,588,461 26 


274,089 62 
337,755 36 






1795 






1796 


6,567,987 94 
7,549,649 65 


475,289 60 




4,8*36*13 
83,540 60 
11,963 11 


1797 


575,491 45 




64'500 
39,500 
41,000 
78,000 


1798 


7,106,061 93 
6,610,449 31 
9,080,932 73 


644,357 95 
779,136 44 
809,396 55 




1799 




1800 


**734,223 97 


'44*3*75 


1801 


10,750,778 93 


1,048,033 43 


534,343 38 


79,500 


167,726 06 


1802 


12,438,235 74 


621,898 89 


206,565 44 


35,000 


188,628 02 


1803 


10,479,417 61 


215,179 69 


71,879 20 


16,427 26 


165,675 69 


1804 


11,098,565 33 


50,941 29 


50,198 44 


26,500 


487,526 79 


1805 


12,936,487 04 


21,747 15 


21,882 91 


21,342 50 


540,193 80 


1806 


14,667,698 17 


20,101 45 


55,763 86 


41,117 67 


765,245 73 


1807 


15,845,521 61 


13,051 40 


34,732 56 


3,614 73 


466,163 27 


1808 


16,363,550 58 
7,296,020 58 
8,583,309 31 

13,313.222 73 


8,210 73 


19,159 21 
7,517 31 




647,939 06 


1809 


4,044 39 




442,252 33 


1810 


7,430 63 


12',448 68 
7,666 66 





696^548 82 


1811 


2,295 95 


37 70 


1,040,237 53 


1812 


8,958,777 53 


4,903 06 


859 22 


85,039 70 


710,427 78 


1813 


13,224,623 25 


4,755 04 


3,805 52 


35,000 


835,655 14 


1814 


5,998,772 08 


1,662,984 82 


2,219,497 36 


45,000 


1,135,971 09 


1815 


7,282,942 22 


4,678,059 07 


2,162,673 41 


135,000 10 


1,287,959 28 


1816 


36,306,874 88 


5,124,708 31 


4,253,635 09 


149,787 74 


1,717,985 03 


1817 


26,283,348 49 


2,678,100 77 


1,834,187 04 


29,371 91 


1,991,226 06 


1818 


17,176,385 


955,270 20 


264,333 36 


20,070 


2,606,564 77 


1819 


20,283,608 76 


229,593 63 


83,650 78 


7132 


3,274,422 78 


1820 


15,005,612 15 


106,260 53 


31,586 82 


6,465 95 


1,635,871 61 


1821 


13,004,447 15 


69,027 63 


29,849 05 


516 91 


1,212,966 46 


1822 


17,589,761 94 


67,665 71 


29,961 56 


602 04 


1,803,581 54 


1823 


19,088,433 44 


34,242 17 


10,337 71 


110 69 


916,523 10 


1824 


17,878,325 71 
20,098,713 45 


34,663 37 
25,771 35 


6,201 96 
2,330 85 




984,418 15 
1,216,090 56 


1825 


"*"469 56 


1826 


23,341,331 77 


21,589 93 


6,638 76 


300 14 


1,393,785 09 


1827 


19,712,283 29 


19,885 68 


2,626 90 


101 


1,495,845 26 


1828 


23,205,523 64 


17,451 54 


2,218 81 


20 15 


1,018,308 75 


1829 


22,681,965 91 


14,502 74 


11,335 05 


86 60 


1.517,175 13 


1830 


21,922,391 39 


12,160 62 


16,980 59 


55 13 


2;329,356 14 


1831 


24,224,441 77 


6,933 51 


10,506 01 


56102 


3,210,815 48 


1832 


28,465,237 24 


11,630 65 


6,791 13 


244 95 


2,623,381 03 


1833 


29,032,508 91 
16,214,957 15 


2,759 


394 12 




3,967,682 55 


1834 


4^196 09 


19 80 


*"*ibo* 


4,857,600 69 



APPENDIX. 



311 



E E. 

from tJie ith of March, 1789, to Jmie SOth, 1847. 



Dividends and 
sales of bank 
stock and bo- 
nus. 



8,028 

38,500 

303,472 

160,000 

1,240,000 

385,220 

79,920 

71,040 

71,040 

88,800 

1,327,560 



202,426 30 
525,000 
675,000 
1,000,000 
105,000 
297,500 
350,000 
350,000 
307,500 
402,500 
420,000 
455,000 
490,000 
490,000 
490,000 
659,000 
610,2a5 
586,649 50 



Miscellaneous, 


including in- 


demnities and 


Chickasaw 


fund. 


19,440 10 


9,918 65 


10,390 37 


23,799 48 


5,917 97 


16,506 14 


30,379 29 


18,692 81 


45,187 56 


74,712 10 


266,149 15 


177,905 86 


115,518 18 


112,575 53 


19,039 80 


10,004 19 


34,935 69 


21,802 35 


23,638 51 


84,476 84 


60,068 52 


41,125 47 


236,571 


119,399 81 


150,282 74 


123,994 61 


80,389 17 


37,547 71 


57,027 10 


54,872 49 


152,072 52 


452,355 15 


141,019 15 


127,603 60 


129,982 25 


94,288 52 


1,315,621 83 


65,106 34 


112,561 95 


73,172 64 


583,563 03| 


99,276 16 


334,796 67 


128,412 32 



Receipts, exclu- 
sive of leans, 
Treasury notes, 
&c. 



4,418,913 19 

3,669,960 31 

4,652,923 14 

5,431,904 87 

6,114,534 59 

8,377,529 65 

8,688,780 99 

7,900,495 80 

7,546,813 31 

10,848,749 10 

12,935,330 95 

14,995,793 95 

11,064,097 63 

11,826,307 38 

13,560,693 20 

15,559,931 07 

16,398,019 26 

17,060,661 93 

7,773,473 12 

9,3vS4,214 28 

14,423,529 09 

9,801,132 76 

14,340,409 95 

11,181,625 16 

15,696,916 82 

47,676,985 66 

33,099,049 74 

21,585,171 04 

24,603,374 37 

17,840,669 55 

14,573,379 72 

20,232,427 94 

20,540,666 26 

19,381,212 79 

21,840,858 02 

25,260,434 21 

22,966,363 96 

24,763,629 23 

24,827,627 38 

24,844,116 51 

28,526,820 82 

31,865,561 16 

33,948,426 2-5 

21,791,935 55 



Loans and 

Treasury notes, 

&c. 



5,791, 

5,070, 

1,067, 

4,609, 

3,305, 

362, 

70, 

308. 

5,074; 

1,602, 

10, 

5, 



112 56 
806 46 
701 14 
196 78 
268 20 
800 
135 41 
574 27 
646 53 
435 04 
125 
597 36 



9,532 64 
128,814 94 
48,897 71 



1,882 



2,759,992 25 
8,309 05 
12,837.900 
26,184,435 
23,377,911 79 
35,264,320 78 
9,494,436 16 
734,542 59 
8,766 62 
2,291 
3,040,824 13 
5,000,324 



5,000,000 
5,000,000 



Total receipts. 



10,210,025 75 

8,740,766 77 

5,720,624 28 

10,041,101 65 

9,419,802 79 

8,740,329 65 

8,758,916 40 

8,209,070 07 

12,621,459 84 

12,451,184 14 

12,945,455 95 

15,001,391 31 

11,064,097 63 

11,835,840 02 

13,689,508 14 

15,608,828 78 

16,398,019 26 

17,062,544 09 

7.773,473 12 

12,144,206 53 

14,431,838 14 

22,639,032 76 

40,524,844 95 

34,559,536 95 

50,961,237 60 

57,171,421 82 

33,833,592 33 

21,593,936 66 

24.605.665 37 
20,881,493 68 
19,573,703 72 
20,232,427 94 

20.540.666 26 
24,381,212 79 
26,840,858 02 
25,260,434 21 
22,966,363 96 
24,763,629 23 
24,827,627 38 
24,844,116 51 
28,526,820 82 
31,865,561 16 
33,948,426 25 
21,791,935 55 



312 



APPENDIX. 



A Statement of the Receipts of the United States, from the 



From 
Dec. 31, 
1834, to 
Dec. 31, 


Customs. 


Internal reve- 
nue. 


Direct taxes. 


Postage. 


Public lands. 


183.5 
1836 
1837 


19,391,310 59 
23,409,940 53 
11,169,290 39 
16,158,800 36 
23,137,924 81 
13,499,502 17 
14,487,216 74 
18,187,908 76 

7,046,843 91 
26,183,570 94 
27,528,112 70 
26,712,667 87 
23,747,864 66 


]?f),459 48 

370 
5,493 84 
2,467 27 
2,553 32 
1,682 25 
3,261 36 

495 

103 25 
1,777 34 
3,517 12 
2,897 26 

375 


4,263 33 

728 79 
1,687 70 

755 22 


893 
10 91 


14,757,600 75 
24,877,179 86 
6,776,236 52 
3,081,939 47 
7,076,447 35 
3,292,2^5 58 
1,365,627 42 
1,335,797 52 

897,818 11 
2,059,939 80 
2,077,022 30 
2,694,452 48 
2,498,355 20 


1838 




1839 




1840 




1841 






1842 






To 30th 
June, 
1843 






1843-4 




1844-5 
1845-6 




1846-7 






890,817,487 78 


22,277,688 39 


12,744,737 56 


1,092,227 52 


122,243,240 52 



APPENDIX. 



313 



m of March, 1789, to June SOth, 1847. {Contimml.) 



Dividends and 
sales of bank 
stock and bo- 
nus. 



569,280 82 

328,674 67 

1,375,965 44 

4,542,102 22 

1,77*4,513*80 

672,769 38 

56,912 53 



5,000 
4,346' 39 



21,579,000 05 



Miscellaneous, 
including in- 
demnities and 
Chickasaw 
fund. 



696, 

2,209, 

5,562, 

2,517, 

1,265, 

874, 

331, 

383, 



279 13 
891 32 
190 80 
252 42 
068 91 
662 28 
285 37 
895 44 



286,235 99 
1,075,419 70 
328,201 78 
289,950 13 
186,467 91 



21,898,902 50 



Receipts, exclu- 
sive of loans, 
Treasury notes, 
&c. 



35,430,087 10 
50,826,796 08 
24,890,864 69 
26,302,561 74 
30,023,966 68 
19,442,646 08 
16,860,160 27 
19,965,009 25 



8,231,001 26 
29,320,707 78 
29,941,853 90 
29,699,967 74 
26,437,403 16 



1,071,194,477 39 



Loans and 

Treasury notes 
&c. 



2,992,989 15 

12,716,820 86 

3,857,276 21 

5,589,547 51 

13,659,317 38 

14,808,735 64 



12,551,409 19 
1,877,847 95 



28,900,765 36 



253,136,287 82 



Total receipts. 



35,430,087 10 
50,826,796 08 
27,883,853 84 
39,019,382 60 
* 33,881,242 89 
25,032,193 59 
30,519,477 65 
34,773,744 89 



20,782,410 45 
31,198,555 73 
29,941,853 90 
29,699,967 74 
55,338,168 52 



1,344,330,763 11 



* «ri,458,782 93 deducted from the aggregate receipts, as per account 
of the Treasurer, No. 76,922. 

27 



314 



APPENDIX. 



E E. 

A Statement of tlie Expenditures of the United States, from the. Uh 

the. Ti-easurij at the 



From 
March 4, 
1789, to 
Dec. 31, 



1791 

1792 

1793 

1794 

1795 

1796 

1797 

1798 

1799 

1800 

1801 

1802 

1803 

1804 

1805 

1806 

1807 

1808 

1809 

1810 

1811 

1812 

1813 

1814 

1815 

1816 

1817 

1818 

1819 

1820 

1821 

1822 

1823 

1824 

1825 

1826 

1827 

1828 

1829 

1830 

1831 

1832 

1833 



Foreign inter 
course, inclu- 
ding awards. 



757,134 45 

380,917 58 

358,241 08 

440,946 58 

361,633 36 

447,139 05 

483,233 70 

504,605 17 

592,905 76 

748,688 45 

549,288 31 

596,981 11 

526,583 12 

624,795 63 

585,849 79 

684,230 53 

655,524 65 

691,167 

712,465 13 

703,994 03 

644,467 27 

826,271 bo 

780,545 45 

927,424 23 

852,247 16 

1,208,125 77 

994,556 17 

1,109,559 79 

1,142,180 41 

1,248,310 05 

1,112,292 64 

1,158,131 58 

1,058,911 65 

1,336,266 24 

1,330,747 24 

1,256,745 48 

1,228,141 04 

1,455,490 58 

1,327,069 36 

1,579,724 64 

1,373,755 99 

1.800.757 74 

1.562.758 28 



14,733 33 
78,766 67 
89,500 
146,403 51 
912,685 12 
184,859 64 
669,788 54 

457.428 74 
271,374 11 
395,288 18 
295,676 73 
550,925 93 

1,110,834 77 

1,186,655 57 

2,798,028 77 

1,760,421 30 

577,826 34 

304,992 83 

166,306 04 

81,367 48 

264,904 47 

347,703 29 

209,941 01 

177,179 97 

290,892 04 

364,620 40 

281,995 97 

420.429 90 
284,113 94 
253,370 04 
207,110 75 
164,879 51 
292,118 56 

5,140,099 83 
371,666 25 
232,719 08 
659,211 87 

1,001,193 66 
207,765 85 
294,067 27 
298,554 
325,181 07 
955,395 ' 



Miscellaneous, 



Milit'ry service, 
exclusive of 
pensions and 
Indian dep't. 



311,533 83 

194,572 32 

24,709 46 

118,248 30 

92,718 50 

150,476 14 

103,880 82 

149,004 15 

175,111 81 

193,636 59 

269,803 41 

315,022 36 

205,217 87 

379,558 23 

384,720 19 

445,485 18 

464,546 52 

427,124 98 

337,032 62 

315,783 47 

457,919 66 

509,113 37 

738,949 15 

1,103,425 50 

1,755,731 27 

1,416,995 

2,242,384 62 

2,305,849 82 

1,640,917 06 

1,090,-341 85 

903,718 15 

644,985 15 

671,063 78 

678,942 74 

1,046,131 40 

1,110,713 23 

826,123 67 

1,219,368 40 

1,566,679 66 

1,363,624 13 

1,392,336 11 

2,451,202 64 

3,198,091 77 



MILITARY ESTABLISH 



Revolutionary 
and other 
pensions. 



632,804 03 
1,100,702 09 
1,130,249 08 
2,639,097 59 
2,480.910 13 
1,260,263 84 
1,039,402 66 
2,009,522 30 
2,466,946 98 
2,560,878 77 
1,672,944 08 
1,179,148 25 
822,055 85 
875,423 93 
712,781 28 
1,224,355 38 
1,288,685 91 

2.900.834 40 
3,345,772 17 
2,294,323 94 
2,032,828 19 

11,817,798 24 

19,652,013 02 

20,350,806 86 

14,794,294 22 

16,012,096 80 

8,004,236 53 

5,622,715 10 

6,506,300 37 

2,630,392 31 

4,461,291 78 

3,111,981 48 

3,096,924 43 

3,340,939 85 

3,659,914 18 

3,943,194 37 

3,938,977 88 

4,145,544 56 

4,724,291 07 

4,767,128 88 

4.841.835 bb 
5,446,034 "' 
6,704,019 10 



175,813 

109,243 15 

80,087 81 

81,399 24 

68,673 22 

100,843 71 

92,2-56 97 

104,845 33 

95,444 03 

64,130 73 

73,533 37 

85,440 39 

62,902 10 

80,092 80 

81,854 59 

81,875 53 

70,500 

82,576 04 

87,833 54 

83,744 16 

75,043 88 

91,402 10 

86,989 91 

90,164 36 

69,656 06 

188,804 15 

297,374 43 

890,719 90 

2,415,939 85 

3,208,376 31 

242,817 25 

1,948.199 40 

1,780,588 52 

1,499,326 59 

1,308,810 57 

1,556,593 83 

976,138 86 

850,573 57 

949,594 47 

1,363,297 31 

1,170,665 14 

1,184,422 40 

4,589,152 40 



APPENDIX. 



315 



E E. 

of March, 1789, to June 30, 1847, and the Balances of Money in 
end of each year. 



Indian dep't. 

including 

Chickasaw 

fund. 



27,000 

13,648 85 

27,282 83 

13,042 46 

23,475 68 

113,563 98 

62,396 38 

16,470 09 

20,302 19 

3122 

9,000 

94,000 

60,000 

116,500 

196,500 

234,200 

205.425 

213,575 

337,503 84 

177,625 

151,875 

277,845 

167,358 28 

167,394 86 

530,750 

274,512 16 

319,463 71 

505,704 27 

463,181 

315,750 01 

477,005 44 

575,007 41 

380,781 82 

429,987 90 

724,106 44 

743,447 83 

760,624 

705,084 24 

576,344 74 

622,262 47 

930,738 04 

1,352,419 75 

1,802,980 93 



Naval estab 
lishment. 



670 
53 



02 



61, 
410, 
274, 
382, 
1,381, 
2,858, 
3,448, 
2,111, 
915, 
1,215, 
1,189, 
1,597, 
1,649, 
1,722, 
1,884, 
2,427, 
1,654, 
1,965, 
3,959, 
6,446, 
7,311, 
8,660, 
3,908, 
3,314. 
2,953. 
3,847; 
4,387. 
3,319. 
2,224! 
2,503; 
2,904. 
3,049, 
4,218. 
4,263; 
3,918. 
3,308. 
3,239; 
3,856. 
3,956, 
3,901, 



408 
562 
784 
631 
347 
081 
716 
424 
561 
230 
832 
500 
641 
064 
067 
758 
244 
566 
365 
600 
290 
000 
278 
598 
695 
640 
990 
243 
458 
765 
581 
083 
902 
877 
786 
745 
428 
183 
370 
356 



Expenditures, 

e.xclusive of 

the public 

debt. 



1,919,589 

1,877,903 

1,710,070 

3,500,546 

4,350,658 

2,531,930 

2,833,590 

4,623,223 

6,480,166 

7,411,369 

4,981,669 

3,737,079 

4,002,824 

4,452,858 

6,357,234 

6,080,209 

4,984,572 

6,504,338 

7,414,672 

5,311,082 

5,592,604 

17,829,498 

28,082,396 

30,127,686 

26,953,571 

23,373,432 

15,454,609 

13,808,673 

16,300,273 

13,134,530 

10,723,479 

9j827,643 

9,784,154 

15,330,144 

11,490,459 

13,062,316 

12,053,095 

13,296,041 

12,660,490 

13,229,533 

13,864,067 

16,516,388 

22,713,755 



Public debt. 



5,287,949 

7,263,665 

5,819,505 

5,801,578 

6,084,411 

5,835,846 

5,792,421 

3,990,294 

4,596,876 

4,578,369 

7,291,707 

9,539,004 

7,256,159 

8,171,787 

7,369,889 

8,989,884 

6,307,720 

10,260,245 

6,452,554 

8,008,904 

8,009,204 

4,449,622 

11,108,123 

7,900,543 

12,628,922 

24,871,062 

25.423,036 

21,296,201 

7,703,926 

8,628,494 

8,367,093 

7,848,949 

5,530,016 

16,568,393 

12.095,344 

li;041,082 

10,003,668 

12,163,438 

12,383,867 

11,355,748 

16,174,378 

17,840,309 

1,543,543 



Total. 



7,207,539 
9,141,569 
7,529,575 
9,302,124 
10,435,069 
8,367,776 
8,626,012 
8,613,517 
11,077,043 
11,989,739 
12,273,376 
13,276,084 
11,258,983 
12,624,646 
13,727,124 
15,070,093 
11,292,292 
16,764,584 
16113,867,226 
46!l3,319,986 
05|13,601,808 
45|22,279,121 
4439,190,520 
94 38,028,230 
35 39,582,493 



93 
12 

62 

29 

28 

62 19,090,572 

12117,676,592 63 



48,244,495 
40,877,646 
35,104,875 
24,004,199 
21,763,024 



15,314,171 
31,898,538 
23,585,804 
24,103,398 
22,656,764 
25,459,479 
25,044,358 
24,585,281 
30,038,446 
34,356,698 
24,257,298 



Balances in 

tlie Treasury 

at the end of 

the year. 



973,905 75 

783,444 51 

753,661 69 

1,151,924 17 

516,442 61 

888,995 42 

1,021,899 04 

617,451 43 

2,161,867 77 

2,623,311 99 

3,295,391 

5,020,697 64 

4,825,811 60 

4,037,005 26 

3,999,388 99 

4,538,123 80 

9,643,850 07 

9,941,809 96 

3,848,056 78 

2,672,276 57 

3,502,305 80 

3,862,217 41 

5,196,542 

1,727,848 63 

13,106,592 88 

22,033,519 19 

14,989,465 48 

1,478,526 74 

2,079,992 38 

1,198,461 21 

1,681,592 24 

4,237,427 oo 

9,463,922 81 

1,946,597 13 

5,201,650 43 

6,358,686 18 

6,668,286 10 

5,972,435 81 

5,755,704 79 

6,014,539 75 

4,502,914 45 

2,011,777 55 

11,702,905 31 



316 



APPENDIX. 



A Statement oji the Expenditures of the United States, from the Ath 

the Treasury at the end 



Prom 
Dec. 31, 
1833, to 
Dec. 31, 



1834 

1835 

1836 

1837 

1838 

1839 

1840 

1841 

1842 

To 30th 

June, 

1843 

1843-4 

1844^ 

1845-6 

1846-7 



2,080 
1,905 
2,110 
2,3-57 
2,688 
2,116 
2,736 
2,556 
2,905 



,601 60 
,551 51 
,175 47 
,035 94 
,708 56 
,982 77 
,769 31 
,471 79 
,041 65 



1,222,422 48 
2,454,958 15 
2,369,652 79 
2,532,232 92 
2,570,338 44 



Foreign inter- 
course, inclu- 
ding awards. 



241,562 35 
774,750 28 
533,382 65 
4,603,905 40 
1,215,095 52 
987,667 92 
683,278 15 
428,410 57 
563,191 41 



400,566 04 
636,079 66 
702,637 22 
409,292 55 
405,079 10 



Miscellaneous. 



2,082, 
1,549, 
2,749, 
2,932, 
3,256, 
2,621, 
2,575, 
3,505, 
3,307, 



565 

396 74 
72160 
428 93 
860 68 
340 20 
35150 
999 09 
391 55 



1,579,724 48 
2,554,146 05 
2,839,470 97 
3,769,758 42 
3,910,190 81 



71,327,748 97 37,683,877 03 74,627,140 80 338,998,049 27 59,969,254 10 



MILITARY ESTABLISH 



Milit'ry service, 
exclusive of 
pensions and 
Indian dep't. 



5,696, 

5,759, 

12,169, 

13,682, 

12,897, 

8,916, 

7,095, 

8,801, 

6,610, 



189 38 
156 89 
226 64 
730 80 
224 16 
995 80 
267 23 
610 24 
438 02 



2,908,671 95 

5,218,183 66 

5,746,291 28 

10,413,370 58 

35,840,030 33 



Revolutionary 
and other 
pensions. 



3,364, 
1,954, 
2,882, 
2,672. 
2,156, 
3,142, 
2,603, 
2,388, 
1,378, 



285 30 
711 32 
797 96 
162 45 
057 29 
750 51 
562 17 
434 51 
931 33 



839,041 12 
2,032,008 99 
2,400,788 11 
1,811,097 56 
1,744,883 63 



APPENDIX. 



317 



of March, 1789, to June 30, 1847, and the Balances of Money in 
of each year. {Continued.) 



MENT. 


Naval estab- 
lishment. 


Expenditures, 

exclusive of 

the public 

debt. 


Public debt. 


Total. 




Indian dep't., 

including 

Cliickasaw 

fund. 


Balances in 
the Treasury 
at the end of 

each year. 


1,003,953 20 
1,706,444 48 
4,615,141 49 
4,348,036 19 
5,504,191 34 
2,528,917 28 
2,331,794 86 
2,514,837 12 
1,199,099 68 

578,371 
1,256,532 39 
1,539,351 35 
1,027,693 64 
1,430,411 30 


3,956,260 42 
3,864,939 06 
5,807,718 23 
6,646,914 53 
6,131,580 53 
6,182,294 25 
6,113,896 89 
6,001,076 97 
8,397,242 95 

3,727,711 53 
6,498,199 11 
6,297,177 89 
6,455,013 92 
7,900,635 76 


18,425,417 25 
17,514,950 28 
30,868,164 04 
37,243,214 24 
33,849,718 08 
26,496,948 73 
24,139,920 11 
26,196,840 29 
24,361,336 59 

11,256,508 60 
20,650,108 01 
21,895,369 61 
26,418,459 59 
53,801,569 37 


6,176,565 19 
58,191 28 

"*21,822 91 
5,605,720 27 
11,117,987 42 
4,086,613 70 
5,600,689 74 
8,575,539 94 

861,596 55 

12,991,902 84 

8,'595,039 10 

1,213,823 31 

6,719,282 37 


24,601,982 44 
17,573,141 56 
30,868,164 04 
37,265,037 15 
39,455,438 35 
37,614,936 15 
28,226,533 81 
31,797,530 03 
32,936,876 53 

12,118,105 15 
33,642,010 85 
30,490,408 71 
27,632,282 90 
60,520,851 74 


8,892,858 42 
26,749,803 96 
46,708,436 
37,327,252 69 
36,891,196 94 
33,157,503 68 
29,963,163 46 
28,685,111 08 
30,521,979 44 

39,186,284 74 
36,742,829 62 
36,194,274 81 
38,261,959 65 
33,079,276 43 


46,800,944 41 


200,585,95202 


829,992,966 70 


481,258,522 08 


1,311,251,488 78 






27 



318 



APPENDIX. 



F F. 

Defalcations of the United States Treasury, from 1789 to 1837.* 







•a 

.s 


Whole loss each 


Amount of duties 


111 






l1 

1 


four years. 


each four years. 




From March 4 


March 4, 
to 1793 


^ 






Il4 


1789 


10 


686 46 


12,097,850 50 


.0056 


1793 


« 1797 


125 


82,359 84 


24,552,164 13 


.0033 


1797 


" 1801 


148 


85,179 98 


33,548,222 90 


.0025 


1801 


" 1805 


150 


61,872 69 


46,952,705 72 


.0013 


1805 


'« 1809 


208 


122,478 51 


54,172,790 94 


.0022 


1809 


« 1813 


263 


374,654 23 


44,079,932 82 


.0084 


1813 


« 1817 


446 


688,836 51 


75,871,937 67 


.009065 


1817 


" 1821 


488 


880,111 67 


65,470,053 06 


.01344 


1821 


« 1825 


431 


1,568,476 17 


74,655,234 54 


.02100 


1825 


" 1829 


457 


2,278,558 47 


88,941,104 61 


.0256 


1829 


" 1833 


209 


299,798 51 


103,644,579 31 


.002892 


1833 


«* 1837 
Total, 


1,307 


1,305,305 45 


70,185,498 66 


.01859 




4,242 


57,748,318 89 


;g694, 172,034 86 


.0111 



Total amount of duties collected, ^694, 172,034 86 

Number indebted, 4,242 

Total loss, ^7,748,318 89 



* See Document of the Secretary of the Treasury, January 14, 1839 — 
Twenty-sixth Congress, first session, Vol. I. Doc. 10. 



APPENDIX. 319 



GG. 



The receipts in specie from the 1st January, 1847, to the 30th 
June, 1848, amounted to $71,044,840 16' 

The disbursements in specie from the 1st January, 1847, to the 

30th June, 1848, amounted to $73,689,883 72 

Treasury Department, 
Register's Orffice, August 10, 1848. 

DANIEL GRAHAM, Register, 



HH. 

Statement of the amount of coinage at the mint of the United 
States and branches, from 1st January, 1847, to 30th June, 1848. 

Amount of coinage during the year 1847, . . $22,657,671 69 
From 1st January to 30th June, 1848, .... 2,576,258 87 

$25,233,930 56 

Treasury Department, 
Register s Office, August 7, 1848. 

DANIEL GRAHAM, Register. 



II. 



We give the following extract from an able address, by Judge 
Woodbury, on " the remedies for certain defects in American edu- 
cation : " — 

" Commerce, free and unshackled, supplies wants, comforts, and 
luxuries, whether to the savage or civilized, and whether near at 
hand or at the antipodes ; and, in this way, by rendering the sur- 
plus productions of all countries more valuable in exchange, it 
helps to excite, encourage, and reward the very highest exertions 



320 APPENDIX, 

of both body and mind. It tlius aids to educate all in most impor- 
tant particulars. It rouses industry in the indolent •, animates the 
torpid to enterprise ; expands the views of the recluse ; civilizes 
the roughest, and inspires rivalship in the most sluggish. It assists 
to propagate new opinions and a new faith, under both the equator 
and the poles ; fertilizes every region not covered with eternal 
snoAvs ; and pushing human improvement in all its varied forms, 
penetrates remotest seas, and crosses the Andes, the Alps, and the 
Himalayan, almost as daringly as the AUeghanies. The moderns 
have hardly done justice to former ages in relation to their immense 
inland trade, enlightening and civilizing wherever it spread — 
whether up the Nile from Egypt, or into the remotest Ind from Tyre, 
and thence from Carthage to distant Britain, and in time over- 
reaching the Atlantides, discovering, under the more adventurous 
Genoese, a new continent, and gradually pervading the whole west- 
ern hemisphere. 

" The moderns liave, to be sure, since entered the farthest isles of 
the Pacific, and are exploring the ice of both poles ; but it is prob- 
able they at last must sigh tliat there a»e no more worlds to find and 
civilize which are worth the search. 

" One illustration of the enterprise and educating character of 
commerce, when free, has recently come under my own eye, that 
may not be without interest to you in connection with this topic. 

" During the last autumn, in a small town in the interior of Mas- 
sachusetts, I found American lead, which had been dug, partly by 
Yankee industry and adventure, in the remote wilderness of Wis- 
consin or Missouri. The same industry and adventure had not 
only helped to dig, but had transported it through the active chan- 
nels of commerce, a circuit of more than two thousand miles from 
the mighty west to the rocky east ; and that on routes unknown, but 
a few years ago, to any thing but the fearless hunter or the birchen 
canoe. Fed partly by meat from the same distant source, and corn 
from the south, and flour firom the middle States, (fruits of the same 
commercial enterprise,) they were zealously occupied in making 
this lead into wat"r pipes for operations still more distant, and not a 
little extraordinary. 

" What, think you, was to be one of their principal markets ? 
Some of this lead was manufacturing by special order, to be freight- 
ed again, under the same Yankee perseverance, not merely two 
thousand miles, but nearly half the circumference of the globe. It 



\\ 



APPENDIX. 321 

was to double the stormy Cape Horn, twice cross the equator, and 
find its pathless way over new seas into the remote Sandwich 
Islands. And for what use ? 

" To advance again, as a labor-saving machine, the commercial 
interests of the same spirit which had untiringly explored the forests 
whence the raw material was obtained. It was in the form of pipes, 
to conduct water more cheaply and conveniently on board our whale 
sliips, which with others resort so frequently to those islands for 
their necessary supplies. 

" The mode of paying for it evinces with perhaps greater strength 
the instructive influence of commerce. It was to be paid for by 
taking in exchange, partly sugar, cotton, and oil, the products of 
new native labor and skill, among a people not long before (scarce 
two thirds of a century) barbarous in the extreme, and murdering 
the immortal navigator who first discovered and blessed them with 
some elements of civilization. But now, under the teaching and 
stimulants of commerce — transporting thither, as every where else 
over the whole habitable globe — the new sense of duty inspired by 
the religion of the cross, they are advanced somewhat in letters, 
agriculture, and the arts, as well as engaging considerably in com- 
merce itself." 



322 



APPENDIX. 



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